Is Bangor a safe city? (Waterville, Orono: best towns, low crime, how much)

[MsJL]

I'm moving to the area soon. I was checking the crime rate, and it seems high for the size of the city - is the rate truly representative, or am I misunderstanding something?

Can't wait to get there, BTW. It's the most beautiful place on earth. Will greatly appreciate any response, and thanks.

JL

[robinreynolds]

Bangor is a great town, and the surrounding towns are nice, too.

[MsJL]

Yeah, I'm looking at Old Town, Veazie, Orono... maybe Milford. I've never been north of the York Beach area, so it will all be new to me.

I'm in NH. I heard that you guys didn't get nearly as much snow as we did yesterday.

[Azbound]

MsJL, Bangor is a great town. The University of Maine at Orono is very nearby. There is a mall and a developed shopping area which are real pluses in rural Maine. With the University there are sporting events and cultural events as well. Friendly people, too!

[Joeklr]

I don't live in the area though I am actively looking for property in the area. Though I can't really comment on the Bangor Area, I'll go ahead and field this one anyway.

Crime stats are tough to read since they don't go into a lot of detail. I live in a city with a rather high crime rate, Oakland, CA. This city has a lot of murders and assaults. On the surface, it would seem to be a dangerous city but.........Most of the murders are gang members killing each other off. Now to assaults. A large proportion of the assaults are domestic violence. Does gang violence and domestic violence have that much of an effect on the population? Different states have different policies on domestic violence. In an area with a zero tolerance policy, if someone hit someone else, they are going to jail, period! Other areas require someone to press charges. Obviously a state with a zero tolerance policy will have a higher rate of assaults than an area with more lenient policies. If you go by the numbers alone, it would seem that you are in great danger just driving through Oakland but in reality, for the average guy who's not in a gang and not involved in illegal activities, it's fairly safe as large cities go. There are very few muggings. That's more of an East coast kind of crime. I have no clue why but it just is. Carjackings seem to be a west coast favorite. You and your family could actually be in more danger by living in a remote area with an apparently low crime rate. A great deal of the danger you are in has to do with how much danger you choose to put youself in.

To really get a feel for an area, you need to actually go there. There could be isolated areas where crime is high. There are areas in all cities where common sense will tell you you probably shouldn't be there in the first place. A general rule of thumb is that the less affluent a population is, the higher the violent crime will be but that's not always the case. Go to a neigborhood. Are the shades drawn? Are there bars on the windows? Are the streets dirty with trash strewn about? If so, it probably isn't that safe. If the area has clean streets and nicely kept homes, it's probably as safe as anywhere.

From the brief time I've spent in the New England states, my gut tells me that all in all it's a great place to raise a family. As an outsider looking in, it may be somewhat presumptuous for me to comment on a place that I've spent less than two weeks in but from where I'm standing, it looks like a really nice place to live.

[Azbound]

My husband was with the Maine State Police for 20 years. I don't remember hearing any huge crime stats for the Bangor area. We joke around here that there is crime but the difference between city living and country living is we know the names and faces of criminals we may come in contact with. Heck, sometimes we even know the parents and the in-laws, who they dated when they were in high school and what age they were potty trained by!! I echo Joeklr in saying that it is a great place to raise a family. "Real" Maine people, (as opposed to those "from away") are pretty comfortable with who they are and rarely pretend to be something other than who they really are!

[purplepoohbear24@aol.com]

I actually did a crime search thing a couple of weeks back, and it showed Bangor to be way bellow the national average. It had the national average at 100, and Bangor was 36ish(can't remember the exact number but it was in the 30's. Orono was 6..and Brewer was a little less than Bangor. So that's not bad.. especially when I checked West Palm Beach Florida where I moved from a couple of years back..that was over 300..lol. would say once every week to 2 weeks you hear about a crime in Bangor on the news, but rarely hear anything in the surrounding towns. I live in Old Town, and nothing ever happens here and it's only 10 min. away from Bangor. Old Town was also named one of the best towns to raise children in the country last year..Waterville was the only other place in Maine that also got that recognition. Well good luck in your move..

[Orringtonian]

Very safe city UNLESS it's a domestic violence issue! That's true throughout Maine -- no gangs, etc. Lived here x20 years, beautiful, beautiful town, great people -- little towns around are very cool as well. Good luck!

[councilor j]

I used to live in Bangor and it has a crime every now and then,Now I live in Albuquerque,New Mexico and it is a big change,crime every night here.Some parts of Albuquerque I avoid cause I hear of alot of innocent people being killed over dumb stuff, and overall the whole state of new mexico has a high crime rate,some of the smaller towns are more dangerous than the bigger ones,compared to New Mexico,Maine was like living in the safest state ever.

[pixieshmoo]

I've been in this forum for a month or so now (I opened a thread about moving to Maine too). My husband and I are very seriously considering moving to Maine from NJ. At the very least, our second choice was NH seacoast. Anyway, like I said, we're from NJ...beautiful towns, mountains, beaches, we have it all. We also have a rapidly growing rate of gangs and gang violence, drugs, etc. Now, I don't know any "true" crime statistics about Maine or Bangor, I don't think that information is ever 100%, however I have done a ton of research myself and it seems to be a rather low statistic compared to around the country. I also have another method and although it may sound silly or morbid, hear me out. I look in the obituaries. Not out of some sick curiosity but because I subscribe online to Maine newspapers and some others and I read them completely. This really all happened by accident. A couple of times I glanced through the obits. while reading the rest of the paper. I started to notice something...since I started doing this a couple of months ago, I have only found a handful of young deaths. Some were infants or young people with terminal illness. One or two may have been a missing person or car accident. However, every 8 or 9 out of 10 names I've been seeing are over 50 and usually moreso over 65-70. What my point is, is that there seems to be such a better quality of life, in my opinion, people are living longer or to riper ages there as opposed to around here, let's say, because it is more laid back. Less fast paced, no pressure to keep up with trends, fashions, gangs, drugs, peer pressure. Or at least NOT AS MUCH pressure. Also less crowded roads and highways. Better air quality/less pollution. Even the water is probably less polluted (tap water and/or fresh water). Consider all of those against places such as (Jersey), NY, Cali., Fla. I think something like that is proof in the pudding!