LEWISTON — Tuesday night’s public meeting on Operation Hot Spot raised questions about whether the crime-fighting program is working and whether police are doing enough. 

“This is a collaborative effort that requires opening and maintaining lines of communication,” Officer Joe Philippon said.

According to interim Lewiston Police Chief Brian O’Malley, the community policing program is meant to open communication between residents and officers to lower crime rates.

The area near the downtown police station was chosen because of criminal activity, which O’Malley said included shootings, stabbings, assaults and thefts. 

He clarified that the crime rate is not arrests and charges, but calls and incidents. 

Assisting O’Malley on the panel were Darcie McElwee, assistant U.S. attorney; Andrew Matulis, assistant district attorney; Douglas Kirk, resident agent is charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Matthew Cashman, supervising agent for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and a corporal for the Lewiston Police department.

Phillipon also facilitated the meeting.

An Operation Hot Spot grant, which allowed the city to install surveillance cameras in public places, runs out this year.

Some of the broader and bigger questions of the night were: 

* Is the Hot Spot program hurting or helping?

* Is it affecting actual crime, not just crime rates?

* Location: Is it racial profiling? 

* Drugs addicts and traffickers: Are the right problems being addressed?

* Is focusing so much energy on that area getting to the root of the problem?

* Is mental health being treated in the most beneficial way?

* Are police doing enough? 

“We’re doing everything we can,” Cashman said. “We are out there.”

“I don’t want you to think because we’re out here tonight talking about Hot Spot that that’s all we’re doing,” McElwee said. “It’s one small puzzle piece.”

A similar public meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lewiston Public Library. Translators will be there to bridge language barriers.