PARIS — Interim Police Chief Jeff Lange wants selectmen to explore his proposal for his department to create and prosecute criminal ordinances as a way to generate revenue for the town.

Lange said he pitched his idea during a selectmen’s meeting over the summer but it fell on deaf ears.

“I did not write all of the ordinances yet. Until I get authorization to say, ‘Yes, this is what the town wants,’ then I can go in and do all that, but I am not going to waste my time,” he said. “It didn’t go anywhere when I presented it before.”

When he brought it up again recently, Selectmen Chairman Robert Wessels agreed the selectboard would take a look into it.

The idea is to craft civil and criminal ordinances that can be brought to court. Under state statute, town officials can authorize a certified law enforcement officer to represent the town to prosecute the offenses in court and collect fines.

He added the town has three general offense ordinances, a few animal control ordinances and traffic ordinaces already in place. But what the town is missing is general offense ordinances that would fall under the public safety category and cover issues pertaining to both police and fire. The police department could then prosecute violations on behalf of the fire department, Lange said.

He pointed to larger cities such as Auburn and Portland that already implement this practice. Auburn has six offenses, which range from prohibiting alcohol on city school property to governing the discharge of firearms within city limits, according to Municode, which links from the city’s website. Lange said the cities would have more ordinances than needed in a smaller town like Paris, but it’s something he can modify for the town’s needs.

“The detective could go up and get trained for free … or a nominal fee … at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. It’s only a one- or two-day class, so it’s not much,” Lange said. “That money is revenue for the town instead of going back to the state. … The source of the the revenue would be from the fines levied through the courts. Those fines generally would be lower than state-levied fines and would need to be approved by the selectboard and voters. ”

But it’s all “depending on what the board of selectmen and the voters want because it still has to go to in front of the town to see what they want,” Lange said. “Any and all ordinances would be based on state statute and reviewed by the town’s attorney before being released to the public to vote on.”

A date has not yet been set as to when selectmen will discuss the proposal.

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