FBI Crime Report shows Maine is safe

by Nicolas Parasie

WASHINGTON - Maine's number of reported crimes dropped in 2002, defying the national trend, according to an FBI report released Monday.

Nationwide, an estimated 11.9 million crimes were reported to police in 2002, an increase of less than one tenth of 1 percent over 2001. In Maine, the number of reported crimes in 2002 was 34,381, a drop of 0.6 percent from the 34,588 crimes in 2001.

The FBI report shows only six states, two of them in New England, had lower 2002 crime rates or crime indexes -- the number of crimes per 100,000 people -- than Maine.

In New England, New Hampshire and Vermont have slightly lower crime rates than Maine. In terms of violent crimes, only North Dakota and Vermont had rates lower than Maine's.

The FBI statistics reveal striking regional differences: the Northeast had by far the lowest crime rate last year, at 2,889.0 per 100,000 people, with the Midwest next at 3,883.1, the West at 4,418.8 and the South at 4,721.9.

Maine's crime index last year was 2,656.0, well below the national crime index of 4,118.8.

Michael P. Cantara, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety called the FBI report and similar ones produced by his agency "a barometer of how safe people are in Maine and how effective law enforcement is."

In the past seven years, Maine's crime figures have been flat or slightly declining, according to Cantara.

Asked why Maine is such a safe state, Cantara, drawing on his 22 years of experience as a prosecutor and then public safety commissioner, emphasized the values of Maine residents.

"Our communities are still intact," he said.

Cantara said he expected the downward trend to continue, even though some crimes, such as sexual and elderly abuse, might increase. The number of forcible rapes rose from 326 in 2001 to 377 in 2002.

In some cases, Cantara said, it is the reporting, not necessarily the crimes, that has risen.

Crimes such as sexual abuse are coming "out of the shadows of shame and denial, so we can expect an increase in cases reported," he said. The growth in the number of senior citizens in Maine also makes them a greater target for emotional, sexual and financial abuse, he said.