Two officers from the University of Wisconsin Police Department will be traveling to New Orleans on vacation next week to observe the Mardi Gras celebration and bring strategies back to Madison for Halloween.

Captain Glen Miller of the UWPD said he and Captain Brian Bridges plan to watch the event unfold and hope to speak with New Orleans Police Department officers while in Louisiana.

“Certainly anytime we go anywhere, either [Bridges] or I, if we see something … we think we can bring back [to Madison], we certainly do,” Miller said.

Last year, Madison’s Halloween celebration drew as many as 80,000 people. However, Mardi Gras has reached levels of 1.5 million parade watchers in the Garden District and the French District alone, according to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc.

Captain Marlon Defillo, commander of public affairs of the New Orleans Police Department, said the department has never had to force people out of Bourbon Street during the celebration or resort to tear gas.

“Mardi Gas is bigger than the police department,” Defillo said. “You can’t just cancel Mardi Gras — it’s a culture.”

Delfillo said people who travel to New Orleans understand it is a festive time for people to celebrate together.

“We expect them to be loud and boisterous — that’s the point of Mardi Gras,” Defillo said. “As long as they’re not a public risk to themselves or others. That’s where we draw the line.”

Miller said he believes Mardi Gras and Halloween are different types of celebrations in different cities. Mardi Gras is a 20-day event that has been going on for more than 100 years and has been run the same way every year. Madison’s Halloween celebration, however, has evolved and had different outcomes in the past.

Although the officers may witness useful techniques on managing a large event, they might not directly apply to the Halloween setting in Madison, he added.

“It’s very much apples and oranges,” Miller said. “Halloween is a couple-night event and quite frankly, we have had people that show up there hoping a disturbance will happen.”

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who works closely with students and city officials to improve Halloween, said there are many similarities between State Street Halloween and New Orleans Mardi Gras. On Fat Tuesday, he said, many people, including college-aged students, parade down Bourbon Street in costumes while alcohol plays a major role in the celebration.

Miller noted alcohol laws in New Orleans are not comparable to those in Madison. There are no laws in New Orleans requiring bars to close at a certain time, and alcoholic drinks may be carried in the streets in unbreakable containers.

Establishments in the French Quarter sell plastic to-go cups for alcoholic beverages, Verveer added.

According to Verveer, Madison Police Sgt. Emil Quast, who was commander of the horse unit on Halloween last October, will also be attending the event to study the NOPD’s mounted horse unit.

“This is not the first time I’ve heard of Madison or UW cops going to Mardi Gras hoping to bring back some lessons,” Verveer said. “I certainly welcome any ideas and strategies to prevent a fourth year in a row of the event ending forcibly by the cops.”