Crime Problem Augusta? (Portland, Brunswick, Manchester: violent crime, home, neighborhoods)

[JViello]

Hi folks, I was looking through some crime statistics and was a bit shocked at what I found for Augusta.

I did a comparo to my current home town...a small city here in CT that is a working class town with a variety of home types and whatnot. Kind of reminds of of Brunswick in many ways.

Here is what was reported:

Augusta, ME
Population: 18,627
Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 22
Robbery: 13
Aggravated Assault: 31
Burglary: 198
Larceny Theft: 926
Vehicle Theft: 41

Manchester, CT
Population: 55,485
Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 9
Robbery: 58
Aggravated Assault: 84
Burglary: 276
Larceny Theft: 1738
Vehicle Theft: 179

Manchester is three times the population of Augusta but not too far ahead in many areas like burglary. One that sticks out is the rape situation. Holy cow...was there a serial rapist loose in Augusta for a while or something that skewed this number?

I ask becauase I know stats can get skewed from reality sometimes. For instance:

Larceny and Car theft in Manchester is artificially high because we have the largest retail center/mall in the state and it causes a lot of petty theft etc and is a "go to" place for car thieves. The city itself represents a different story.

Can anyone shed some light on crime in Augusta?

Thank you in advance.

[Mark S.]

I've only been to Augusta couple of times. My very uninformed opinion of the place is that there are definitely some neighborhoods I wouldn't want to live in, but the city as a whole hardly seems crime-ridden.

My take on violent crimes in Maine (like rape) is that it is rarely random. Nine times out of ten, the victim knows his or her attacker. "Aggravated Assault," in Maine, is most likely predominantly bar fights.

Maine, like everywhere else, has a drug problem, which breeds crime. Drugs are an expensive addiction, and addicts often turn to crime to fuel their habit, which explains a lot of the burglaries, larceny, etc. But what you don't have in (most of) Maine (at least so far) is a deeply entrenched gang culture that thrives on the drug trade.

[Labamba]

Originally Posted by JViello

Augusta, ME
Population: 18,627
Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 22
Robbery: 13
Aggravated Assault: 31
Burglary: 198
Larceny Theft: 926
Vehicle Theft: 41

Augusta is the state capitol and these elevated figures are probably caused by legislators.

[dmyankee]

The real criminals in Disgusta are the perpetrators in the legislature.

[mollysmiles]

I agree..... Mark you're right on the money about violent crimes in Maine


and once again the "stats" beg the question... Is there really more crime in Augusta or more reporting? One of the biggest problems with statistics is that you can make them look almost any way you'd like, and of course, that's not always a true reflection of what really exists

[7th generation]

As you know, Augusta is the Capitol of Maine.
Take any Capitol city across the U.S. and you always have a higher crime rate. Your stats are per 100,000, so the population of the two cities is irrelevant.
Let's look at the Capitol of Ct.
Murders: 24
Rapes: 19
Robberies: 610
Burglaries: 613
Thefts: 4,796
Auto theft: 1,376
Again these stats are per 100,000 residents, the same as the OP's.
One must compare apples to apples.
Geesh...............

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Labamba

Augusta is the state capitol and these elevated figures are probably caused by legislators.

Ouch LOL

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I agree..... Mark you're right on the money about violent crimes in Maine


and once again the "stats" beg the question... Is there really more crime in Augusta or more reporting? One of the biggest problems with statistics is that you can make them look almost any way you'd like, and of course, that's not always a true reflection of what really exists

I said that very thing and, well, that's why I'm asking! LOL

So what's the deal in Augusta? Rape is a hard one to "misreport" and it seems there was a decent amount of it for the population.

Originally Posted by 7th generation

As you know, Augusta is the Capitol of Maine.
Take any Capitol city across the U.S. and you always have a higher crime rate. Your stats are per 100,000, so the population of the two cities is irrelevant.
Let's look at the Capitol of Ct.
Murders: 24
Rapes: 19
Robberies: 610
Burglaries: 613
Thefts: 4,796
Auto theft: 1,376
Again these stats are per 100,000 residents, the same as the OP's.
One must compare apples to apples.
Geesh...............

Actually, those were not "per 100,000." Those were actual number of reports. I did that for the very reason you are talking about.

Going by per 100K you can make NYC look like Mayberry.

Per 100K the numbers look like this:

Augusta, ME
Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 118.11
Robbery: 69.8
Aggravated Assault: 166.4
Burglary: 1063
Larceny Theft: 4971.3
Vehicle Theft: 220.1


Manchester, CT
Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 16.22
Robbery: 104.5
Aggravated Assault: 151.4
Burglary: 497.4
Larceny Theft: 3132.4
Vehicle Theft: 322.6

That really shows the disproportionate number of rape and burglary reported in Augusta.

I'm also not buying the excuse that "it's the capital so hey, what do you expect" explaination. Crime is crime...but having said that, Portland lists more crime and it's not a "capital city".

Tell me something like "burglary can be listed as something like a petty theft from someone's property" or whatever...that I can understand.

I'm not slamming the place, but it's a concern of mine in my research.

My wife would look at those figures and say "ah...why are we considering this? Maybe Manchester isn't as bad as we thought..."

So I'm here looking for real world answers.

[JViello]

Bueller....


Buuuuueller?

[mollysmiles]

lol....read that and can hear the voice!

I don't know exactly what's up with the numbers, but I can tell you a couple of things. Crime in Maine generally occurs between people who know each other--as Mark mentioned above. It is rare that you'll find a rape charge or a burglary charge where the people involved have no knowledge of each other. The other thing is that it's important to know the definition of the crimes as they vary somewhat from state to state....this can make comparisons difficult too. In Maine we sometimes hear of someone being charged with "unlawful sexual contact".....that encompasses more than a "rape" charge does, generally.

I wish I could be of more help! Good luck with your decision

[Labamba]

And another thing...Augusta is one of a number of former Maine industrial towns or small cities where the industry has, for various reasons, left town (and the state, and maybe the country), and left behind a sizable group of blue-collar workers without much alternative expertise. This has caused stresses and strains in the social fabric. It may improve over time.