When most patrons think of security at Summerfest, they probably first conjure up thoughts of the burly "red shirts" patrolling the grounds.

And rightfully so. With hundreds of Summerfest security staff stationed all over the grounds each day, the Milwaukee Police Department doesn't need to keep an overwhelming presence during the 11-day event.

Still, the uniformed cops are there at all times, providing backup to the "red shirts," ready to act if things get out of hand for the unarmed security -- and quietly patrolling the grounds to make sure fest patrons are obeying the law.

"It's Summerfest's security, it's their festival, and we're here to assist them," says Sgt. Ken Henning, who oversees the police force on the grounds.

The MPD won't disclose the number of cops staffing Summerfest, nor will they discuss the number of arrests being processed through the "Summerfest jail" in the Police Command Post just north of gate six.

But last Friday, as I did a "walk along" with Officers Scott Siller and Bryon Downey, it was clear that there is an ample police presence, and something must be working, as the "jail" was nearly empty both at the beginning and the end of their shifts.

Summerfest's police strategy has gone high tech over the years, utilizing dozens of security cameras scanning the grounds, as well as staffing a mobile booking room in the jail that operates as a fully-functioning police station.

Says Henning, "Most of the time after you receive your citation, you're released right from Summerfest grounds. If it's a more serious offense or if you're from out of state, you're taken Downtown to our jail."

But despite the holding cells with grommets for handcuffs, most of what we saw Friday night was garden-variety disobedience: underage drinking and pot smoking near the rocks. On a daily basis, the police also see a lot of public urination and disorderly conduct.

"It's about 98 percent underage drinkers," says Henning, who met me in the jail before our patrol began. "I've been down here for 15 years. It's amazing -- most of the kids that we arrest are not from the City of Milwaukee, they're from the suburbs. The Milwaukee kids know that (MPD) is here and is arresting people for this stuff. They know that you've got to behave."

Mind you, Siller, 38, and Downey, 35, don't take great pleasure in busting 19-year-olds for drinking a beer. Not only do they remember what it was like to be a teenager, Siller says he's personally conflicted that he has to write a ticket to someone old enough to give his or her life in the military overseas, but too young to legally drink at home.

Still, Siller and Downey (who normally works with District 7) have a job to do in their eight-hour shift, which they both volunteered to do as overtime, and I join them on their patrol around 8 p.m.

Picking Their Battles

Since 1996, Siller has tried to take a least one or two shifts at Summerfest each year. "I like doing it; it's my day off," he says, noting that it's a big change of pace from his normal duties with Fugitive Apprehension Unit.

As sun sets, Siller, Downey and I slowly make our way to the rocks along the lake, where most of the illegal activity tends to occur. The officers scan the crowd, looking for anything out of the ordinary. That can be a darting glance, the breaking of eye contact, or more seriously, someone tugging on their shorts or pants, which could indicate the presence of a gun. Both officers are, of course, armed, but neither are carrying Tasers. Like always, they are wearing their bulletproof vests.

Downey, a former firefighter, explains to me that the red shirts have made his job much easier at Summerfest. Many of them are off-duty law enforcement officials -- cops, patrol officers and prison guards. Others are teachers who know how to diffuse a tense situation. The off-duty cops, he says, wear a blue lapel pin on their red shirts.

Both Siller and Downey admit that they've wanted to be police officers as long as they can remember. Separately, both tell me that they used to watch "CHiPs" as kids, and Siller explains that he was looking for a job that satisfied his need to "live to work and work to live." Downey, the former firefighter, says he "loves helping out people," and despite the cliché, I believe him.

Even though their shift ends at midnight, it's not uncommon for the officers to be stuck at Summerfest until 4 a.m., so Downey says he needs to "pick his battles." In other words, with tens of thousands of fest patrons, too many are breaking the law to be caught.

The team needs to use discretion, to pick and choose -- who to warn, who to kick out and who to arrest.

Three Patrons

On Friday night, I see three types of people interacting with the officers. The first type is looking for help, asking for directions to bathrooms, stages or ATMs -- and kids who stop us throughout the night hoping for baseball cards.

The second group, through alcohol or otherwise, is simply enamored with these men in uniform. These patrons either know the officers or just want to pose for photos. A group of tipsy girls near the Miller Lite Oasis, for example, is all over Siller, a physically imposing figure who towers over the crowd. They try to pinch him, ask to be handcuffed and flirt shamelessly. Siller indulges them for a few minutes before getting back to work. As the public face of the MPD, he knows he needs to keep a sense of humor, shaking kids' hands and even posing for pictures with drunk girls once in a while.

The third group is what Downey and Siller are really looking for: the patrons breaking the law. We run into our first example of this by the mid-gate fountain.

Spotting the Signs

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but Siller spies a group of three young men averting their gazes. One switches his cup of beer into his opposite hand, trying to hide it from the cops. Downer and Siller recognize this maneuver, and card them immediately. Two of the three men are legal; the other is 20 years old.

As the officers prepare to bring in the underager, his two friends immediately vanish -- without so much as saying goodbye or good luck -- this becomes a recurring act all night. Siller doesn't frisk or handcuff the man, who is escorted away by two other officers who were in the area. "He dictates our level of force," he says. "He'll just get a ticket."

Next, we walk over to the south end of grounds, the area that Siller says tends to be the most problematic. It's been better now that the midway is gone, but he says he still sees the most activity in this section. As we circle back to walk north along the rocks, another drunk and nervous woman awkwardly tries to flirt with him. We then spy a group of shady-looking teens sitting on the rocks.

Siller jokes that all teens look shady -- because they're teens, of course -- but he's still willing to bet that the kid drinking from the plastic Pepsi bottle has smuggled in alcohol. It turns out that he's 21, and the bottle actually contains soda, but both cops know the group is up to no good. They don't find anything, but they accomplish their mission. "They know we're here," says Siller.

Shortly after 9 p.m., we smell an obvious plume of marijuana wafting over the rocks, and like bloodhounds, Siller and Downey immediately turn to the right group of kids. As Siller begins to question a cocky 17-year-old, his friend flicks something into the lake. Now almost dark, it's a lost cause of the officers, who shine their flashlights into the water.

"Do you admit it yet or do we have to go find it?" asks a bemused Siller.

"Find what?" the kid asks innocently.

Siller asks to sniff his hand, which doesn't smell of pot. His friend, the one who threw something into the water, has quietly disappeared. We move on.

At this point, Siller asks me to identify someone I think is breaking the law. Not sure I'm up to the task, I still try to use their method of looking for someone appearing shifty or hiding something, but I can't sense anything. Finally, Siller sees three teenagers, not drinking, but immediately knows something is awry.

Siller searches one teen, while Downey searches the other. Something seems suspicious about these kids; both their eyes are dilated and glossy, and they seem too mellow in this situation. The officers find cigarettes and lighters, but no drugs. Meanwhile, the third friend has blended into the crowd and left -- again.

At this point, the officers use their discretion, since Summerfest is private property. They can't prove anything beyond underage smoking -- Siller says he plans to call the kids' parents later -- but he still escorts the pair from the grounds and warns them not to come back. In retrospect, Siller and Downey are sure that the third teen was the one with the drugs. But again, the pair has to pick its battles, and notably, the kids make no objections to being kicked out.

A Matter of Discretion

Close to 10 p.m., we stroll past the now-crowded Harley stage, and a visibly drunk and underage boy literally walks into us, holding two beers. Siller tells him to stop walking. At first, the kid tries to ignore the officers and keep going. But Siller grabs his shirt gently -- but firmly enough -- and cards him.

The boy is 18, and has just graduated from high school in West Allis. He says he "got the beers from some random guy." Siller kicks over his beers, grabs the back of shirt and starts to take him in.

To get back to the command post, we walk through the mosh pit at the Dropkick Murphys show. Wisely, none of the moshers elbow the cops, and gradually we weave through the crowd and sit down at the booking table.

The kid calls his mom on his iPhone and eventually hands it over to Silber, who explains that because he's 18, he doesn't have to release him into her custody -- but asks her if she'd like to pick him up, anyway.

While we wait for the mother, Downey fingerprints the boy and begins writing his ticket. Both Downey and Siller are a little rusty at writing tickets -- remember, this isn't their normal job.

The boy is now crying and is very apologetic. I ask him if he's drunk, though I know the answer. He says, yes, that he's had about four beers. He says he's acted very stupidly tonight.

He's losing any composure he had earlier, and asks if this ticket will jeopardize his full academic scholarship to college this fall. Now, Downey takes a soft and conciliatory tone, explaining that he's not going to jail. Downey recommends he saves his partying days for college and play it safe this summer. Downey is being much nicer than he needs to be.

And then the kid says something that changes his future tonight. He asks if his mom will get in trouble for buying him the beer.

Downey stops writing the ticket and asks him to explain. Apparently, if a parent buys her son a beer at Summerfest, it's not illegal. She just has to stay with him, which she did not. So, while a crime was and wasn't committed, it wasn't as serious as the kid trying to buy beers from a bartender or using a fake ID.

The boy says the reason he told the officers that he got the beer from the "random guy" was to cover for his mother. The officers share a glance with each other and void the ticket on the spot. They're going to let him go with a warning.

"Discretion is what separates good cops from great cops," says Siller as they release the boy to his appreciative mother.

"Every Point of Contact Makes an Impression"

I ask Siller to explain, and Siller turns the question around on me. He says he planned on asking me one important question, had I been able to identify a single underage drinker: "Would I have let him go?"

Since I wasn't responsible for finding someone to bust, I can only answer for the two people we did pick up tonight. Interestingly, I think I would've handled it exactly like the cops did.

The first guy was unapologetic and shifty, but the high school kid was reflective, remorseful and concerned about his future. Siller noted, too, that the boy was Hispanic -- and he says he personally works to dispel the myth that police officers unnecessarily hassle minorities. He explains out that every point of contact with the police is the opportunity to make an impression, and if this kid left Summerfest tonight believing that cops are here to help, well, then, letting him off the hook was worth it.

I say farewell to Siller and Downey at this point, left with my own impressions of the job they do. My contacts through OnMilwaukee.com have provided me with a number of experiences with the police -- though the Vice Squad, the Harbor Patrol, the DUI enforcement team, and now, the Summerfest patrol. Like always, it's professionally interesting and personally intriguing to step into their shoes for a shift, to understand why they make the decisions they do.

Is Summerfest safer because a few underage age drinkers and pot smokers got stopped Friday night? Probably not, at least not specifically. But knowing that rational, thoughtful cops are patrolling the grounds, on alert to handle bigger problems -- is especially impressive given the size and scope of the Big Gig and the volatile powder keg it could so easily ignite.