Maine overall crime rate declines for 8th consecutive year

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The number of crimes reported has decreased the eighth consecutive year in Maine, even though violent crimes grew 3.1%, the state’s Department of Safety reported Monday.

All told, reported crimes dropped 6.6% in 2019, and the continuing decline “speaks volumes to the hard work of our professional law enforcement officers, our partners and, of course, the communities we serve,” Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said in a statement.

But law enforcement officials are committed to doing even better.

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“We want the victims we serve to know that we never forget, and we are committed to working harder every day to bring you justice in a fair and equitable manner,” he said.

There were double-digit declines in a number of categories: Burglaries were down 13.6%, robberies were down 15% and auto thefts were down 26.7%, according to the department.

But there were some notable exceptions, as well. Arson was up 39.4% and reports of sexual assaults grew by 15%, the department said.

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Elizabeth Saxl-Ward, executive director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said rapes are underreported crimes and that she hoped the double-digit increase meant more people were coming forward to report them.

Another underreported statistic is domestic violence.

Those crimes were down by three-tenths of a percentage point but the trend may not carry into 2020.

So far in 2020, the number of calls to Maine’s domestic violence resource centers is up 24%, said Francine Garland Stark, executive director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence.