While some legislators are calling for more jail time to keep suspended drivers off the road, law enforcement officials say lists from the state targeting the worst offenders would at least let them know which ones to watch.

They can’t easily get that today from the massive computer database at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which they say is poorly organized and doesn’t easily sort by region. And the numbers are staggering. There were 87,333 suspensions given out in Maine in 2004 – many to people for not paying fines. There are 940,000 licensed drivers in the state.

“In an odd way, we were better off 10 years ago when microfiche was organized by town,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion. “It’s not about getting tougher. It’s about focusing your resources in the field.”

In the wake of a fatal accident on July 29 that involved a truck driven by suspended driver, Scott Hewitt of Caribou, lawmakers and law enforcement officials are trying to find a way to effectively deal with lawbreakers.

They were surprised to learn at a hearing last week that when the courts or the BMV suspend a license, local police and sheriff’s departments are not notified that someone in their jurisdiction isn’t supposed to be behind the wheel.

Complicating matters is law that calls for license suspension for everything from failure to pay a fine to driving drunk, and even non-driving related infractions like not paying child support.

Most people don’t drive after their license has been suspended, or at least they don’t get caught. While 87,333 suspensions were given in 2004, 7,455 people were convicted for operating after suspension – a figure that is up 41 percent from 10 years ago.

Hewitt was on his 23rd license suspension and had 63 motor vehicle convictions on his record when his truck hit a car on I-95 in Hallowell, fatally injuring its driver, Tina Turcotte of Scarborough, who died after two days in hospital.

Sen. William Diamond, D-Cumberland, a former Secretary of State and now chairman of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee, would like to require jail time – from three months to up to two years – for those who drive after their license has been revoked for repeated suspensions, elevating the crime to felony status for the worst violators.

Diamond went so far as to publicly extract a promise from current Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, whose office oversees the BMV as Diamond’s did, that he would support mandated jail time for those who repeatedly “disregard the law.”

Department of Corrections officials say the threat of more prison time won’t stop the habitual offenders who disregard the law.

“Incarceration alone is not going to change criminal behavior,” said Denise Lord, associate commissioner at the Maine DOC. “They don’t think they’re going to get caught.”

“Rather than enhancing sentences” for everybody, she said, “let’s focus our resources on catching the high-risk” offenders.

Law officers like Dion say they’d be happy if they could just easily pinpoint the habitual offenders.

Dion told the Criminal Justice Committee last week it’s “random enforcement” right now because officers are dealing with suspended drivers behind the wheel on a chance basis.

“It’s a very invisible crime,” he said.

To be more proactive, Dion had his staff put together a hit list of habitual offenders in Cumberland County, not including the city of Portland. It took 20 staff and 85 man hours to winnow a list of 477 names from the BMV to 167, running driving records and validating local addresses. Dion estimated an equal number would have been found in Portland.

The list included 18 people from Brunswick; 10 from Gorham; 10 from Scarborough; 28 from South Portland; 26 from Westbrook; 14 from Windham; and, six from Standish. The 167 had, on average, 10 convictions and 12 suspensions each.

Ultimately a list of the top 12 habitual offenders was created and staff went out to find them, going so far as informing employers of their employees’ suspended license status. There were four people from Standish on the list; three from Casco; two from Raymond; and one each from Harpswell, W. Baldwin and Sebago.

“Look at the time it took,” Dion said. Time smaller departments don’t have. “They’re going to walk away from this,” unless the BMV can organize its data more effectively.

Diamond thinks the threat of jail will stop some people from driving while suspended, and he would like to use Hewitt as the “poster boy” to cajole the Legislature to act.

“There’s a whole category for which it would be a deterrent,” he said. “Three months in jail would have a huge impact on their lives and their friends and family.”

His proposal would require the following punishment:

• four suspensions in three years would mean a one-year license revocation. If caught driving, it would mean a three-month jail term.

• five to eight suspensions in three years would mean a three-year license revocation. If caught driving it would mean a year in jail.

• Eight suspensions or more in three years would mean a five-year license revocation. If caught driving, it would mean a two-year jail term.

Diamond said at the very least jail time would keep some of the worst offenders from driving while they were incarcerated.

“On our worst day, it would keep them off the street,” he said.