MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Police investigating a college student's killing in Madison have arrested dozens of transients in the neighborhood near the Capitol where the slaying happened. The city also is confronting problems at a nearby park whether the homeless congregate.

Some say a crackdown on the homeless is long overdue in Madison, including in Brittingham Park where neighbors say the transients use illegal drugs and drink alcohol all day and often sleep overnight.

But advocates for the homeless say the crackdown is unfair. They held a news conference yesterday to denounce the anti-homeless sentiment developing in the city.

Linda Ketcham of the Madison Area Urban Ministry says they are an easy scapegoat, and there's no proof any of them were involved in the killing.

Police say the homeless people taken into custody had other pending charges and aren't considered suspects in the death of 21-year-old Brittany Zimmermann.

Police Chief Noble Wray says he believes the killer broke into the building where Zimmerman was killed in her apartment.