Almost three weeks have passed since Madison’s infamous Halloween weekend, but many city officials and students are still questioning what exactly happened and discussing how a riotous celebration can be prevented during next year’s festivities.

Luis Yudice, assistant chief of police with the Madison Police Department, led a meeting Wednesday to discuss the details of the Halloween weekend and to analyze police video footage taken from the roof of University Inn.

According to Mario Mendoza, an assistant to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, the mayor is urging extensive community-wide planning for next year’s Halloween.

“Everyone is shaken by the events no matter which side of the pepper spray you were on,” Mendoza said. “We need to listen to each other.”

Matt Rink, Associated Students of Madison past chair of the Halloween campaign, said the forum allowed students and officers to express their concerns.

“I think [the forum] can have some effect in kind of clearing up and also just explaining to a lot of people what happened,” Rink said. “I was in the midst of the fire, and I didn’t understand why they weren’t taking certain actions.”

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 8, said the forum gave students and citizens the opportunity to hear why the police made the decisions they did Halloween weekend, including the use of pepper spray and clearing people off the streets.

Verveer said many students feel the police overreacted with the pepper spray, but he said he hopes students who were on State Street during the use of the spray will attend a listening session planned for early December.

“…[The police] will not only talk about what went right and what went wrong this year but begin the process while it is all fresh in our mind of asking the community, especially the student body, for suggestions and advice for next year,” Verveer said.

The police department has received eight complaints from innocent bystanders who experienced the effects of pepper spray, Yudice said.

Police had video cameras stationed on the roof of the Statesider private residence hall and the University Inn, capturing the mob scene, the bonfire and the release of the pepper spray.

On the videos, students can be seen pushing the policemen’s horses, jumping through the bonfire and passing many objects, such as a tire, through the crowds.

Police are currently investigating specific individuals who fed the fire throughout the night.

“Some people may think it’s a crowd having fun, but to us it’s a potentially dangerous situation,” Yudice said. “Overall, we are extremely fortunate that this didn’t get completely out of hand.”

Mendoza believes Madison cannot rely on its luck during Halloween any longer. The mayor will put together a task force that will work on a plan to deal with a large and aggressive crowd for the notoriously crazy weekend, he added.

According to a police release, the total cost of law enforcement in the city reached approximately $469,347 during Halloween. The MPD costs were $255,535, UWPD costs hit $120,000, Dane County Sheriff’s Department spent almost $90,000 and the Middleton Police Department reported spending more than $4,000.