PRESQUE ISLE – Five low-volume ports of entry from Canada will be closed and locked during hours when the stations are not staffed by customs agents and are closed to traffic starting next month.

The measure, which stops drive-through policies of the past, have come about to shore up security along the country’s northern border. Much the same will occur at 38 other ports along the northern border with Canada.

In Maine, the changes will affect about a quarter of the 21 land ports of entry.

Ten people attended a public hearing on proposals for ports at Hamlin, Monticello, Easton and Orient in Aroostook County and Forest City in Washington County at Presque Isle on Thursday night. Meetings at Houlton and Brookton on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon were better attended with about 85 residents.

When those ports are closed, people wanting to enter the United States will have to do so at ports in Van Buren, Fort Fairfield, Houlton, Vanceboro and Calais.

The changes affect ports where 24-7 service is not available along Maine’s eastern boundary with New Brunswick. Changes also are coming for ports along Maine’s western boundary with Quebec.

“We are upgrading security measures because of 9-11,” said Phillip Spayd, director of field operations for the U.S. Customs Service North Atlantic Management Center at Boston. “We are stopping the system of passage without inspection.

“This will make our ports more secure against entry,” he said. “The ports, which are closed after hours, will be monitored from the Houlton port.”

Spayd said the new regulations would allow customs to explore staffing alternatives. Costs of inspection at small ports are very high. The service, he said, needs to balance national security interests with monetary interests and local needs.

The five ports in question will get enhanced lighting, better signage, and gates that will be closed and locked after hours. When the ports are open, two armed officers will staff them. Video cameras showing the port after hours will be viewed at Houlton.

Spayd said the U.S. Customs Service is concerned about emergency services using the closed ports of entry. Those services included police, fire departments and ambulance services.

He said a system is being worked on that would give those services keys to the locked gates.

Along the Maine-New Brunswick border, many fire departments have mutual aid agreements with neighboring services.

It also was mentioned Thursday night that some ambulance services are closer to Maine hospitals through the closed ports in emergency situations.

The biggest change in the proposal is the cancellation of a Remote Visual Inspection System that allowed pre-screened individuals to go through closed port facilities.

People without pass cards were required to go to a 24-hour port within 24 hours of passage.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the automated system has been suspended, and pass holders also had to stop for inspection within 24 hours.

In some instances, going to a 24-hour-a-day port can entail more than an hour’s travel.