BREWER – It doesn’t pay to do drugs.

Drug busts, on the other hand, can result in a monetary boon for the police departments involved from seized or forfeited items, including cash, if the federal criminal case is successfully prosecuted.

“We get a percentage” of the confiscated items associated with the case, Brewer Police Chief Perry Antone has said.

A city police officer is working as an agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, and because of the officer’s help in putting criminals behind bars, the Brewer Police Department has taken in more than $117,000 over the last two years.

The department is restricted in how the funds can be spent, but one idea that has been tossed around is hiring an officer to replace the one working as an agent, it was announced Tuesday at the Brewer City Council meeting.

“That’s an allowable use,” Antone said. “We’re looking for a detective.”

However, no final decision has been made on how the funds will be allocated.

The proposal is in its infant stages and “none of the details [has] been ironed out,” he said.

All the funds are the result of federal court cases, not all drug related, so the federal asset forfeiture equitable sharing guidelines also need to be consulted to ensure the funds can be spent to hire an officer.

The City Council created an asset forfeiture-seizure reserve account in April 2004, which allows the Police Department to receive the proceeds from forfeited or seized assets for any law-enforcement-related expenditure.

Some of the assets are real properties, others are cash, Antone said.

Any assets associated with a drug case can be seized, he told councilors last month after the board accepted $68,693 in funds from three different criminal cases.

“It seems like we see these every month, which shows the good work you’re doing,” Mayor Michael Celli said on Tuesday.

Some of the funds collected over the last two years have been used for training and equipment, Antone said.

“Some of these funds have been used to train officers in drug investigations and we also upgraded our duty weapons with some of these funds,” he said.

The department replaced their 40-caliber Glock pistols with 45-caliber Glock pistols.

“On the books, we have around $110,000,” Antone said.

The following is a breakdown on the $117,000-plus in forfeited or seized funds received by the city since the reserve account was set up:

. September 2007 – $4,020.

. August 2007 – $68,692.92.

. June 2007 – $12,625.

. May 2007 – $8,303.

. April 2007 – $1,144.

. February 2007 – $1,144.

. December 2006 – $2,490.

. November 2006 – $2,947.

. October 2006 – $500.

. August 2006 – $3,248

. January 2006 – $10,310.

. February 2005 – $2,226.