Law-enforcement officials will conduct more meetings with bar owners to give better info to councilors.
LEWISTON – Police are working more closely with restaurant and bar owners to cut down on liquor violations, Police Chief William Welch said Tuesday.
Police will meet every three months with local drinking establishment owners and managers to discuss concerns and find problems.
“We should all have a better idea of what’s expected when it comes time to renew their liquor license,” Welch said.
The state did away with its liquor enforcement division last year, giving that authority to state police. Local police have been expected to pick up the slack, Welch said.
The new policy answers those concerns, but also tries to give city councilors more information when they review liquor licenses each year, Welch said.
Currently, councilors look over a list of police calls when they review liquor licenses. Councilors see bars with more police calls as a sign of a problem and that’s not always the case, he said.
“We want them to call us when there is a problem,” Welch said. “My officers are trained to deal with these kinds of problems and that’s what I want them to do.”
Instead, Welch said officers will be assigned to drinking establishments on their beat. They’ll review lists of police calls every three months and then meet with bar owners and manager to discuss their concerns and identify problems.
“If there is a problem, they’ll identify it there,” Welch said. “We can tell them right away that the problem needs to be fixed, or we will recommend the council revoke their license.”
Officers will also file reports on each establishment every three months. Once each year, all four reports will be presented to the council. That will give councilors good information about each bar, not just vague statistics.
“We don’t want bar owners afraid to call the police because it’ll add one more call to their tally,” Welch said. “We’re more interested in why they called and whether their staff helped the situation or really made it worse for police. That’s what we’re most concerned with.”
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