RUMFORD — A public meeting on the crime-fighting program Operation Hot Spots is planned for 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at the Rumford Falls Auditorium.
Police Chief Stacy Carter told selectmen Thursday evening, “We need to get input from citizens and some direction as to what they would like to see and try to reduce some of the crime and hopefully get some programs for youth affected by some living conditions, increased crime and increased drug addiction.”
Operation Hot Spots is a collaboration among local, county, state and federal law enforcement partners to address the increasing criminal activity in town.
“It’s also a collaboration with the community — residents, landlords and businesses — as we move forward in this Hot Spots program,” Carter said.
Last month, he told the board the program has been going on in Lewiston for two years, and the results have been so successful that it has pushed some of their criminal elements into other parts of the state, including Rumford.
He said Lewiston partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Project Safe Neighborhoods to bring Operation Hot Spots to the city. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a national initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce gun violence in the United States.
“The good thing is that they realize this and have reached out, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office, to include some of these other communities and bring them in on this Project Safe Neighborhoods grant application,” Carter said. “Rumford has been included in that, as have Augusta and Bangor.”
“We’re looking at concentrating our efforts in Rumford’s high-call-volume areas and hope to bring some calm to the area,” he said. “We certainly don’t have it as bad as some of these bigger cities, but for our population base and the amount of resources that we have, when you put it on a scale, we’re similar.
“So we’re going to use these efforts and collaborate with other agencies and you’ll see a presence here throughout the summer and fall months from time to time so that we can address some issues,” the chief said.
Carter said a lot of community organizations are going to be asked to attend the May 13 meeting and support the program.
“This is an invitation for you folks to attend, and we’ll be handing out fliers in a couple weeks to the community so that we can get a broad base there for a good community talk,” he said.
The chief said he would like to begin the program this spring.
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