AUGUSTA — City councilors will consider a proposal from police to seek grant funding to purchase an automatic license plate reader, expand “hot spot” actions in which officers focus on high-crime areas, and restart a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in local schools.

Councilors are meeting to consider a proposal to seek $49,000 in state Safe Neighborhood Grant Program funds for those initiatives Thursday night, when they’ll also consider approving the combined $58.1 million city and school budget. The budget is expected to result in a property tax rate increase of 2 percent.

A police vehicle driven by a San Diego County deputy sheriff in San Marcos, California, shows the monitors of a license plate reader that's used to collect data on plate numbers and run that against information such as those wanted on arrest warrants. Augusta police have asked for the purchase of an automatic license plate reader that would be installed in a city police cruiser. AP file photo

Councilors meet Thursday at 7 p.m. in council chambers at Augusta City Center.

Unrelated to the proposed city and school budget is a proposal from the Police Department to seek up to $49,000 in Community Development Block Grant money targeted to help reduce illegal drug activity and associated crimes in low- to moderate-income areas via three tactics.

One tactic would be the purchase, for about $18,000, of an automatic license plate reader. That device would be installed in a police cruiser to read license plates as the officer drives along, a practice that’s drawn concern from civil libertarians.

The officer observing the device would be alerted when it identifies the license plate of someone for whom they are on the lookout, or who is the subject of warrants, or who has a history of illegal drug activity, according to Jared Mills, deputy police chief. Mills said two officers would be involved — one driving, the other observing the license plate reader.

Mills said the device would be helpful in that officers receive numerous reports about people wanted by other police agencies and those with arrest warrants. There are so many such reports that it’s impossible for officers to remember them all, let alone compare the license plates of vehicles to those being sought. The new technology would do that automatically.

However, the devices have been controversial when put into use elsewhere.

In response to concerns about privacy, and data from the plates potentially being compromised, Maine passed legislation in 2010 that limits the development of databases using license plate readers and requires collected data to be purged every 21 days if it’s not related to an investigation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. The organization still sees the technology as a threat to Fourth Amendment rights, which include the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects from unreasonable search and seizure.

“This technology turns us all into suspects, giving the government the power to track our movements and store them in a searchable database,” Oamshri Amarasignham, advocacy director of ACLU of Maine, said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “Maine has some privacy protections on the books, but even the best laws won’t always protect us from leaks of our personal information. If the city of Augusta is prepared to invest in this technology, it must also be prepared to guarantee appropriate oversight and privacy protections for its citizens.”

Mills said there are strict rules for how the data the license plate readers collect may be used, and how it is stored, and the department would follow those rules.

The grant proposal also would seek $10,000 to help cover overtime costs for “hot spot details,” in which police from multiple agencies conduct focused patrols and visits in high-crime areas, passing out fliers, checking in on people in that area who are on probation or have bail conditions, and gather information for investigations to come.

And the grant proposal would seek $21,000 to restart a Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program in a partnership between police and Augusta schools. Of that $21,000, $17,000 would be used to train the city’s school resource officer, community resource officer, and four other officers to teach the DARE program in local schools; $2,000 would cover their hourly wages to teach the course; and $2,000 would buy equipment and supplies.

Mills acknowledged the DARE program was controversial, and its effectiveness was questioned, before it was revamped in 2010. But he said statistics show that since those changes, it is effective and now touches on not only illegal drugs but also issues including bullying and prescription drug abuse.

Now the city has nothing in schools meant to reduce illegal drug activity directly and associated crimes in place.

“If there was something better (than DARE) that we knew about, we’d use it,” Mills said. “The chief and I did a lot of research on what is the best program out there, but there aren’t any other programs out there that have evidence-based statistics. Our biggest thing is getting officers in the school. That’s what it’s all about. Integrating officers on a day-to-day basis with kids is the main thing.”

The state grant program would not require the city to match the state funds with local money.

In addition to the grant and city and school budget votes, councilors are also scheduled to consider two proposed new tax increment financing deals; award the Mayor’s Recognition of Excellence Outstanding Community Service Award to Cony All Sports Boosters; award the Edwards Dam Scholarship to Abigail Silsby; and authorize Bridgeo to apply for $105,000 in Efficiency Maine Grant funds to help pay to convert interior and exterior lighting at several city buildings, and in some streetlights, to LED technology.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @kedwardskj

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