WILTON — With three grant awards, the Wilton Police Department proposes continuing a temporary detective position, leasing a patrol car and creating a tip line to combat underage drinking, cigarettes and illegal narcotic use.

Selectmen unanimously accepted the three grants Tuesday after police Chief Dennis Brown described the grants and how the department would like to use the funds.

The first and largest grant of $19,939 continues the work of a Department of Public Safety STOP Grant awarded to the department last year, he said. The funds were used to reduce sexual and domestic assaults.

A temporary detective position, filled by Officer Richard Billian, was created last year and the grant will continue that position for approximately seven months, he said. The grant provides money for a part-time officer to cover Billian’s regular shifts.

The grant also provided funding for investigative equipment, including cruiser cameras and surveillance equipment that “we couldn’t afford without the grant,” Brown told the board.

Billian has received more training, which he shares with the staff. The department has continued to work on providing more services for victims through improved communication with Abused Women’s Advocacy Project and Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services, he said.

The Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant was awarded because of the department’s high percentage of crime index reporting statistics. Because of Wilton’s higher rate than other Franklin County departments, the department was awarded the largest amount locally, $10,853, he said.

While a previous JAG grant provided for new computers and other items, the largest need for the department now is cars, Brown explained.

The department plans to use three-quarters of the grant to lease a new patrol vehicle and purchase supplies for it, he said. The financing was arranged so that the first payment is made in January 2011. With the lease arrangement, if voters don’t approve the lease at the next town meeting, the vehicle could be returned, he said.

Three of the department vehicles have well over 100,000 miles on them.  All the cars are paid off and no vehicles were budgeted for this year, he said. The funds will help put the department back on target with their five-year capital plan.

The third grant, $1,000 from the Healthy Community Coalition with funding from Franklin Memorial Hospital, will continue a joint effort against underage drinking, he said. The department has received the grant previously for this work.

Part of this money will be used to establish a tip line at the police station to develop information for patrols of large parties with expected underage drinking. Educational programs for local convenience stores is also included in the grant, he said.

[email protected]