Crime Down Overall
• A report from the Maine State Police
Jun 3, 2010 – Crime in Maine decreased -1.8% during 2009, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety. Public Safety Commissioner Anne H. Jordan said the crimes that saw increases in 2009 were robbery, burglary and arson. Every other crime category that the state tracks saw decreases or remained virtually unchanged. Jordan said, "The increases in robbery and burglary are a result of the increasing demand for money to feed the state's drug habits. In addition to cocaine and heroin, Maine has seen significant increases in the abuse of prescription medication and that demand leads to more burglaries and robberies."
Robberies increased +19.9% in 2009 (398 cases in 2009 vs. 332 cases in 2008) reversing a two year decrease. Robbery was down in 2008 by
-4.9% and also dropped in 2007 by -8.9%.
Burglaries also increased +3.0% (6,711 in 2009 vs. 6,516 in 2008). Burglary had decreased the two previous years -- 2008 by -2.4% and in 2007 by -1.5%.
Larceny-thefts decreased in 2009 by -2.8% (23,900 thefts in 2009 vs. 24,582 thefts in 2008).
Both aggravated and simple assaults decreased. Aggravated assaults during 2009 decreased by -8.7% (742 cases in 2009 vs. 813 cases in 2008) and simple assaults decreased by -5.8% (10,897 cases in 2009 vs. 11,570 cases in 2008). Aggravated assault involves serious bodily injury and many times a weapon is used.
The Commissioner said reported rape-sexual assaults and domestic violence remained virtually unchanged from the previous year. There were 374 sexual assault cases reported to law enforcement in 2009, which was a single case increase over the 373 cases reported in 2008. The percentage increase for rape-sexual assault was +0.3%
Domestic violence assaults decreased slightly during the year by -0.5% in 2009 (5,287 in 2009 vs. 5,311 in 2008).
Jordan said, "Much progress has been made to reduce violence against women but more work remains." Jordan encouraged victims of sexual assault and domestic violence to contact police, as well as support groups. The Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence phone number is 866-834-HELP or www.mcedv.org and the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault's phone number is 800-871-7741 or www.mecasa.org . Both organizations have complete listings of local groups that offer assistance.
Arson saw an increase of +29.3% during 2009 (243 cases in 2009 vs. 188 cases in 2008). The value of the property damaged by arson fires tripled, from $3,107,823 during 2008 to $9,479,618 during 2009.
Motor vehicle thefts decreased by -13.2% in 2009 (1,018 cases in 2009 vs. 1,173 cases in 2008).
There were 26 homicides in 2009 compared to 31 homicides the year before.
Overall crime in rural areas, patrolled by State Police and sheriff's departments, decreased -7.0% in 2009, although some individual crimes did increase substantial. Rural crimes going up last year were robbery (+140% - 36 cases vs. 15 robbery cases in 2008), rape in the rural areas increased by +23.9% (83 cases in 2009 vs. 67 cases in 2008) and arson saw a +262.5% increase (87 arson cases in 2009 vs. 24 cases in 2008). Simple assault also went up (+0.8%). Crimes going down in the rural areas were aggravated assault (-6.0%), burglary (-1.2%), larceny-theft
(-9.5%), and motor vehicle theft (-24.7%).
Crime in urban areas decreased by -0.5% in 2009. Urban areas are made of communities with full time police departments. Urban crimes showing increases were robbery (+14.2%) and burglary (+5.6%). Urban crimes that decreased during 2009 were rape (-5%), aggravated assault (-9.6%), simple assault (-7.6%), larceny-theft (-1.3%), motor vehicle theft (-6.4%), and arson (-4.9%).
The Uniform Crime Reporting Division (UCR) at the Maine Department of Public Safety tabulates the crime numbers each year. The numbers are based on reported crimes from local, county and state law enforcement agencies. The UCR statistics show that 33,411 crime index offenses were reported to police during 2009 compared to 34,008 during 2008 for a total crime rate decrease of -1.8%.
Offenses comprising the crime index include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The 33,411 crimes reported in 2009 represent a crime rate of 25.3 offenses per 1,000 people within Maine. That number compares to the national crime rate of 45.4 offenses per 1,000 population in 2008.
The total number of adults and juveniles arrested, summoned or cited by police decreased in 2009 for the second year in a row. Adult arrests dropped -0.9% (49,478 in 2009 vs. 49,935 in 2008) and juvenile arrests decreased by -0.8% during 2009 (6,788 in 2009 vs. 6,842 in 2008).
The value of property stolen during 2009 was $24,667,032 compared to $27,898,529 in 2008. Police recovered $5,925,408 of stolen property during 2009 for a recovery rate of 24.0%.
The crime rate for violent crime in Maine for 2009 continues to be one offense per 1,000 population compared to the national average of 4.5 per 1,000 for 2008.
