The recent spate of illegal activity at Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard, including police closure of a meth lab and arrest of a 21-year-old Boston man for human trafficking involving a 17-year-old girl within days of each other last month, is being taken seriously by the city, and judging from the response of the nationwide hotel chain, by Motel 6, too.

But the agreement to share the hotel guest list with police, without guests knowing that is happening, has raised questions.

“It’s not us demanding, it’s them giving it to us,” Col. Stephen McCartney said yesterday shortly after the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island released a statement blasting the practice.

“It strikes me bizarre that they care so little about their customers’ privacy,” ACLU executive director Steven Brown said in a phone interview. Brown said it makes no difference to him whether police had requested the information or that the motel is voluntarily providing it.

In a release, Brown states, “There are many ways to deal with illegal activities at the motel without engaging in such a wholesale invasion of patrons’ privacy. In the absence of some suspicion of wrongdoing, a person on vacation should not expect their private information to be shared with the government in this way. We are also deeply concerned about the precedent this agreement sets, for it can only embolden police to press for similar policies from other establishments.”

McCartney said yesterday four arrests of persons with outstanding warrants have been made since the motel started sharing its list.

McCartney could not say how police will deal with the information. He said it is an issue he plans to discuss with the Attorney General.

Rhetorically, he asked, “Do we want to run a carte blanc check on the names?” He said the arrests were made on the basis of suspects known to the department, not a random check of the guest list. He said the list would not be made public.

Despite controversy over the confidentiality of guests, McCartney remained impressed by the cooperation of Motel 6 corporate leaders to address the issues being experienced here.

“Their people are very sensitive to this issue,” said McCartney. “They want to know why they are attracting the wrong kind of people to their hotel.”

“I know people stand by that privacy is paramount, but safety is paramount. A family traveling here from Florida on vacation shouldn’t have to worry that in the room next door there is a meth lab,” Avedisian said yesterday.

After meeting with four of the company’s executives and general manager Mark Marino Tuesday morning, Mayor Avedisian and McCartney reported to the Board of Public Safety that night a series of steps designed to prevent illegal activity. In a session lasting no more than 10 minutes, Avedisian described what he called “extremely productive” talks with corporate executives who flew into Warwick from Dallas. The board accepted the report without taking any action.

“They don’t want negative publicity,” Avedisian said after the board meeting. He said from the start the approach was “what can we do to solve this?”

City officials, along with Seekonk Chief of Police Craig Mace and town administrator Shawn Cadime, met with the Motel 6 delegation in a closed session earlier Tuesday. Some of the criminal activity experienced in Warwick is also happening in Seekonk. When Avedisian learned that was the case, he invited the Seekonk chief to join the discussion. Avedisian said he was concerned that a crackdown in Warwick could simply transfer some of the problems to Seekonk.

“We never threatened to take their license,” Avedisian said. It was an approach that apparently made for cooperative talks and a plan.

Avedisian and McCartney said the session was highly informative. Avedisian noted that online registration and payment can be used to obscure the identity of the actual guests. He said he was also unaware of a practice called “fronting of rooms,” where the room is registered in the name of someone other than the person using it.

In addition to providing the guest list, the plan includes:

l The presence of an off-duty uniformed police officer on the premise seven days a week. An officer had previously been on the property on weekends only.

l Motel 6 has raised the minimum check-in age from 18 to 21 at the Jefferson Boulevard motel, although the norm throughout the chain of 1,200 hotels is 18.

l Mark Marino, manager of the Warwick hotel has completed updated training with the staff on safety and security policy procedures.

l The parties will coordinate use of the Motel 6 “do not rent” protocol when guest are arrested for serious crimes and disorderly conduct.

Avedisian said that “do not rent” list might ultimately be shared with other hotels.

Victor Glover, director of safety and security for G6 Hospitality, the management company for the Blackstone Group, served as the hotel delegation spokesman. He said that he thought the hotel’s location with easy access from Route 95 was a factor in attracting undesirable guests. He would not say how the criminal activities recorded at the Warwick hotel compared to hotels in other parts of the country.

Motel 6 low prices were deemed a contributing factor by Warwick authorities following the arrests. Glover did not say if there would be a change in prices here. There is a need for economy lodging, he said, adding the Warwick motel would remain consistent with the pricing model.

There is no deadline for Motel 6 to turn things around. Glover said no additional meetings are scheduled with the city, although he expects the lines of communication between the corporation and the city to be open. No time was put on how long an off-duty officer would be at the hotel or when the hotel might revert to the minimum check-in age of 18.

Avedisian told the Board of Public Safety that the city has been in contact with the Rhode Island Tourism and Hospitality Association so hotels can work cooperatively to share resources and information to prevent undesirable activity. With 15 hotels and more than 2,000 hotel rooms, Warwick has more hotels than any other municipality in the state.

As for the Seekonk Motel 6, Glover said many of the measures being adopted in Warwick will also be applied to the hotel in that community.

Asked about the sharing of guest lists with police in other states, Brown noted the U.S. Supreme Court heard a California case regarding a Los Angeles ordinance that allows police to inspect guest registries without a warrant. There hasn’t been a ruling yet. Brown noted that this is different as the hotel is voluntarily providing the information.

Brown said the role of the ACLU at this point is to question the practice but, as he pointed out, the information belongs to the hotel. No action is being planned by the ACLU.

G6 Hospitality did not return a call.