PORTLAND – The Portland Police Department has a force of 160 officers but they will be unable to fill a void when the state eliminates 16 liquor enforcement jobs next week, said Chief Michael Chitwood.

Laws covering overserving, staying open too late and serving minors are administrative and can only be enforced by personnel from Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement, which is being eliminated, Chitwood said.

“I don’t have the resources and I don’t have the legal parameters to deal with one of the most profound public safety issues that we deal with throughout the state – drunkenness and all the other crimes it leads to,” he said.

The Maine Department of Public Safety insists that by adding three liquor inspectors to existing civilian staff, it will be able to enforce administrative laws at the state’s liquor licensees.

The inspectors will rely on local and county authorities to refer suspect bars or convenience stores. And they are counting on state, local and county authorities to pick up the slack in criminal enforcement.

“The administration is confident that what survives … coupled with coordinated effort within existing resources in the Department of Public Safety, and mindful of the fact that local law enforcement agencies have done the lion’s share of criminal enforcement, indicates strongly that this is a workable plan,” said Michael Cantara, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

Gov. John Baldacci proposed and the Legislature approved eliminating the Bureau of Liquor Enforcement as part of this year’s budget balancing package. The elimination of 16 officers and associated administration saves the state roughly $1.5 million in salary and expenses over two years.

But local police say it creates an enforcement vacuum that will lead to more underage drinking and a rise in illegal liquor shipments into the state. They say local police are ill-equipped to fill that vacuum.

“It’s a different type of enforcement, it requires a whole different mind-set,” said Winthrop Police Chief Joseph Young Sr., chairman of the legislative and law committee of Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

“We cannot set up undercover work like the bureau does, coming into a community and watching a place and determine who’s selling to underage people,” Young said. Busy urban departments lack the personnel, and the officers in smaller departments tend to be identifiable.

Liquor enforcement officers have had a greater impact than their numbers would suggest because they are an effective deterrent against bars and stores behaving irresponsibly, Young says.

The state has more than 4,000 businesses licensed to sell alcohol; half are retail stores and half serve alcohol on-site.

The 16 liquor enforcement officers accounted for 1,059 charges of liquor law violations in 2002, including illegal possession or transportation of alcohol by a minor, possession of fake or altered identification and driving under the influence of alcohol or after suspensions.

State officials say bureau criminal cases represent 20 percent of the criminal liquor law violations in Maine. To maintain the same level of enforcement, local police would have to increase the citations they issue by 25 percent to compensate for the loss.

In Portland, Chitwood plans to assign an entire patrol team to maintain order in the Old Port this summer, a decision influenced in part by the impending demise of the liquor enforcement bureau.

Each weekend, thousands of bar hoppers mill through the downtown entertainment district, and invariably there are problems at closing time.

Starting this past weekend, the tactical enforcement unit was assigned full time to patrolling the Old Port. The unit includes plainclothes and uniformed officers.