Crime in Maine (Portland, South Portland, Saco: home, quality of life, statistics)

[Petertherock]

Our instructor for my criminal justice course who also happens to be the sheriff gave us some interesting facts on crime stats and the clearence rate. The clearence rate refers to the crimes that are solved through arrest and conviction or other cirumstances that closes a crime out.

I will just give a few of the most interesting stats.

Portland:
Murders: 3
Rape: 36
Robbery: 149
Aggravated Assault: 88
Burglary: 539
Larceny: 2,709
M/V Theft: 193
Arson: 15
Total Crimes: 3,732
Clearence Rate: 22.0% (this means you have a 78% chance of getting away with crime in Portland)

South Portland:
Murders: 0
Rape: 9
Robbery: 13
Aggravated Assault: 29
Burglary: 90
Larceny: 808
M/V Theft: 29
Arson: 2
Total Crimes: 980
Clearence Rate: 40.6%

Falmouth:
Murders: 0
Rape: 0
Robbery: 1
Aggravated Assault: 1
Burglary: 30
Larceny: 136
M/V Theft: 5
Arson: 2
Total Crimes: 175
Clearence Rate: 13.1%

Cumberland:
Murders: 0
Rape: 0
Robbery: 1
Aggravated Assault: 1
Burglary: 18
Larceny: 44
M/V Theft: 4
Arson: 0
Total Crimes: 68
Clearence Rate: 47.1% (highest of Cumberland County)

One interesting thing to note is with rapes, the actually number of rapes is estimated to be 3 times the number of reported rapes. So in Portland they figure the actual number of rapes would be 108 since it is estimated that only 1/3 of rape victims actually report the crimes.

The other flaw in these numbers is in the way the data is figured...only the most serious crimes are counted. For instance, if there is a robbery and murder then only the murder gets counted in the stats. If there is an arson murder like happened in OOB this week only the murder would get counted in the stats.

He also gave us the numbers for Franklin County and the worst Clearence Rate was Carrabassett Valley at only a 4% clearence rate.

It's just some interesting crime data there.

[Maineah]

This may sound ignorant but what is the difference between burglary and larceny?

[Petertherock]

Nope...not ignorant...it's a good question...

Larceny is the unlawful taking, carrying, leading or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

The major difference between a larceny and a burglary is that the perpetrator did not gain illegal entry into the structure through the use of forcible, non-forcible or attempted forcible entry with the exception of a motor vehicle.

All thefts from motor vehicles or thefts of motor vehicle parts and accessories are considered larcenies whether the vehicle was locked or unlocked.

So basically a burglary is when someone breaks into your home or business and a larceny would be like if someone steals your wallet or purse snatches.

[Maineah]

Thank you for clearing that up! What if the motor vehicle is in my garage? Is it burglary if the thief steals the radio or larceny? By the sheer number differences in the statistics one would have to assume most theft is larceny and break-ins are relatively rare.

Great statistics by the way . Thanks!

[Petertherock]

If the vehicle is in the garage my best guess is it would be a burglary.

[Maineah]

I don't have any stats from other states handy though it seems that crimes in general from the towns you've listed are rather light on a per capita basis wouldn't you say?
I'm sure anyone who had been a victim of any crime would disagree about the crime rate. Though the statistics seem to bear out the "generally safe" reputation Maine prides itself on.

[ILUVMAINE]

IMO Maine is much safer than Charlotte North Carolina! That's just my opinion.

[maine4.us]

Maine rates as one of the safest states for just about every crime. Here are the statistics. 1 = worst state 50 = best state
Categories of Crimes
Murder 44
Rape 49
Robbery 45
Assault 47
Burgulary 35
Auto Theft 49

Maine averages in the 95 percentile of all the states. That means there are only 5 states higher than us, if we had 100 states, since we have only 50, there are only 2 states safer than Maine.

Crime is not a major issue in the quality of life in Maine - end of story.

[Petertherock]

Our sheriff was telling us that arson is one of the biggest crimes in Maine. People like to burn things in Maine for some reason. He told us if we wanted to become arson investigators there would be a lot of work for us.

Speaking of crime...just last night another car was stolen in South Portland when someone went out to warm up their car. I know this happened to one of our members of this forum a couple weeks ago so my suggestion is unless you have a remote car started don't warm up your car. I usually use a spare key and start the car and lock the door but even that way someone can just break a window of the car and take off with it. Although they would be more likely to get caught when they are driving down the road with a wide open window.

[Maine Writer]

I'm the victim of a crime today. A friend in Saco couldn't wait to tell me that there are sapsicles on the maple tree. It's not running here. I think that's some sort of discrimination.