Local residents wait for Bangor Area Transit buses at Pickering Square on Monday afternoon. Washington, D.C.-based CQ Press recently designated Bangor as the eighth-safest metropolitan area among 300 U.S. metropolitan areas. Buy Photo
BANGOR, Maine — The Greater Bangor metropolitan area ranked as the eighth-safest in the country among more than 300 areas that were surveyed recently by a Washington, D.C.-based policy organization.
CQ Press rated the safest and most-dangerous cities and metropolitan areas based on 2007 data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The categories include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft, which were ranked on a scale of crime per 100,000 people and then compared with the national rates.
“Of course we’ll take a little credit, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Bangor police Chief Ron Gastia said Monday. “We tend to be very high on these types of lists every year. It certainly isn’t by chance, though. There is a lot of work that goes into that.”
Only cities with more than 75,000 people qualified for the CQ Press report, but in the metropolitan area category, there were no population minimums, which is why Bangor made that list. For the purposes of the CQ Press study, the Bangor metro area was defined loosely as most of Penobscot County, which included just under 150,000 people and ranked 262nd-largest out of the 338 areas studied.
“It’s always nice to hear,” Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said of his jurisdiction’s high marks. “One of the things that helps is the way law enforcement works together in this area. We have a great relationship with area municipal departments, and state police, which isn’t always the case in other areas.”
Two other Maine locations also made CQ Press’ list. The Greater Portland area ranked 28th, and the Lewiston-Auburn metro area was 60th. Among metropolitan areas, Logan, Utah, was the safest in the study, while Pine Bluff, Ark., was listed as the most dangerous.
Earlier this year, the same organization ranked states on overall safety, and Maine was second only to New Hampshire.
“I guess if there aren’t a lot of people, there’s not going to be as much crime,” said Lisa Ireland, 34, of Bangor, who was drinking coffee at a downtown cafe on Monday. “But it’s nice to know that we don’t have to worry about random shootings or things like that.”
Chris Ettinger, 25, of Bangor agreed that the city is generally safe, but not everywhere.
“Come by First Street sometime,” he said while walking downtown near Pickering Square. “I’m sure not everyone feels safe there.”
The 2007 UCR data for Maine have not been broken down by county, but on a statewide level, violent crimes decreased slightly while property crimes increased slightly over 2006. While the UCR data are used by a number of law enforcement agencies, criminologists, socialists and others, they are not perfect.
For instance, if more than one crime happens during one incident, only one is counted. Another factor is crimes reported vs. actual crimes committed. Not all all crimes are reported, particularly sexual assaults. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that violent crimes are reported only about 50 percent of the time and property crimes only about 40 percent of the time.
Both Gastia and Ross said the amount of crime that goes unreported in Bangor or Penobscot County is probably on par with every other part of the country.
As for whether the recent ranking might cause Bangor area residents to let down their guard, Ross said he doesn’t worry about that.
“People here are generally streetwise,” he said. “They know if they’re not paying attention, anything could happen.”
Gastia said even though Bangor is considered a safe place, residents shouldn’t be naive.
“On an individual basis, people might let their guard down. They might not lock their cars or houses because they don’t think they have to, but times have changed,” he said. “People should still take precautions.”
The full report can be viewed online here. Maine’s crime data for 2007 can be found here.
On 11/25/08 at 6:28 AM,
robertg222 wrote:
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This is what happens when you don't have overly restrictive gun control laws that only help the criminals.
On 11/25/08 at 7:04 AM,
Jenna_T wrote:
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Great point, Robert! Let's give EVERY resident 6 handguns and 2 automatic assault rifles and then Bangor will shoot right to the top of the list.
On 11/25/08 at 7:30 AM,
musician wrote:
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How are Maine's gun control laws restrictive?
On 11/25/08 at 7:34 AM,
SteveyDee wrote:
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He is not saying they are restrictive. And of course you have Jenna going high and to the right. Robert is right gun laws only affect law abiding citizens.
On 11/25/08 at 8:19 AM,
beresponsible wrote:
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SteveyDee you are correct. The laws of gun control do only affect the people that follow the rules. Same as a lock will only keep an honest person out. We need the right to bear arms. I live in a rural area and I certainly will keep an intruder at bay with my fire arm. If you come looking for trouble you will find trouble. We also need to realize in the same token that there is NO need for any person who walks the street to carry assault weapons’. I do feel those should be reserved for military, I don’t mean your local militia either. Extremist like our friend Jenna need to know the laws. She is the reason we need stupid laws telling us what we can and can’t do. I think we need to use a little better judgment and not get caught up in the drama. I am glad to here that we have an overall safe city for us to shop in and commute through.
On 11/25/08 at 8:42 AM,
rdrunnah wrote:
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And just how does this report square with the "Casino's No" position to reject a casino bill because the racino in Bangor has caused an uptick in crime in the area? Were they "shading the point" (no pun intended) to make a political statement?
On 11/25/08 at 8:58 AM,
chemaine wrote:
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"This is what happens when you don't have overly restrictive gun control laws that only help the criminals"
Really?
So, smart guy, how does this explain why cities like LA and Atlanta, which also have lack gun laws, are so crime ridden?
How do you gun wackos reply to kids losing their lives to the stupidity around those moronic automatic weapons needed to hunt whiole herds of deer?
Really really sad. Hopefully you don't wear seatbelts/motorcycle helmets.
On 11/25/08 at 9:02 AM,
usafbangormaine wrote:
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Wow, let the bitterness come out...
On 11/25/08 at 9:21 AM,
David889327 wrote:
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Yup, Bangor's doin ok. We only have thieves, conpersons, drug addicted burglars. Otherwise, a pretty nice group of folks!
On 11/25/08 at 9:25 AM,
David889327 wrote:
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Where did all these anti-gun nuts come from? It appears that they are mostly women. In Maine, it's customary for BOTH partners to be armed so that you can have duels. It makes for a fun weekend.
On 11/25/08 at 10:26 AM,
BucksportMom wrote:
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I'm going to ignore all of you and comment on the article.
It is no surprise to me that Maine and specifically the greater Bangor area is safe.
This is the number one reason we moved our family here many years ago.
We came from a state with one of the highest crime rates and it was no place to raise children.
Given that, I also know that no place is perfect or perfectly safe.
But I can tell you that since moving here I have been able to relax (took awhile) and allow my kids to be kids.
That doesn't mean they run wild and I don't know where they are every second of the day (because they don't, and I do know),
but it is wonderful to live in an area that you don't have to be constantly suspicious of everyones intentions.
You can enjoy life much more without that kind of worrying all the time.
So I totally get the whole "The way life should be..." motto
Sometimes you have to be from away to truly be able to appreciate what this state offers.
On 11/25/08 at 10:36 AM,
David889327 wrote:
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You're right Bucksportmom, and we want to keep it that way. We may have to allow a little bit of an economy to develop, on occasion, however...
On 11/25/08 at 11:31 AM,
Maurice_Fleckman wrote:
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chemaine, Not really a good post, and to answer the question, in a word, minorities. This isn't a racist statement, it's a fact. I live just northeast of Atlanta, Do some research and see what the ratio is involving gun related crime between cucasian versus minorities. You will have to take into concideration the population differences, Atlanta has 5Mil, I'm unsure of the L.A. metro area, But I think you will find my point to be a fact. I'm very much looking forward to returning to my home city over the holidays, Good job Bangor on making your residents and people from there proud!
On 11/25/08 at 11:36 AM,
Maine62 wrote:
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Moral of the story...build more casinos
On 11/25/08 at 11:37 AM,
gw2kpro wrote:
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chemaine --
Your diatribe is both misguided and ill informed.
California is extremely restrictive in its gun laws. Georgia is not. Therefore, the fact that big metro areas in both states have high violent crime rates (as you have pointed out) is strong evidence that tight gun law do nothing to deter violent gun crime.
If you haven't noticed, major metro areas where there is a lot of poverty ALWAYS have more gun crime than other areas. Think for a minute about that implication and if that logically leads to the conclusion that guns, and not people, are the real problem.
Concluding that violent crime in a given area is high, so the solution is to cut out access to guns, is analagous to noting that a cancer patient is losing weight, therefore we must feed them more in order to get their weight up.
Also, here's some precedent if you are one of the people who have abdicated the responsibility of protecting yourself and/or your family, and believe that the state or the police have a duty to protect you, specifically:
Warren v. District of Columbia: the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled, “official police personnel and the government employing them are not generally liable to victims of criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen.”
On 11/25/08 at 11:41 AM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Maurice, there is a connection between crime and poverty, and there is a connection between poverty and race. It is a common and unfortunate mistake to conflate the two into a connection between crime and race.
On 11/25/08 at 12:02 PM,
David889327 wrote:
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Roughly speaking, if A = B, and B = C, then A = C.
On 11/25/08 at 12:10 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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If you need to see the obviousness that lax gun laws are related to violent crime just look north. On a per capita basis, the rate of violent crime in Canada in a fraction of that in the US. Similar culture, no easy access to handguns or automaitc weapons. Coincidence? Maybe, but seems unlikely. Please note, this also tracks in Canadian cities with multi-million populations. You cansafely walk anywhere in Toronoto or Montreal---not so in St. Louis or Buffalo.
Your argumant on interstate variablity in gun control is stupid. There are no check points between states, and bringing guns across state lines, while it may be illegal, is not enforceable (strange tha Californai enforces what fruit can be brought into the state, but not guns!).
The other explanation is Americans are inherently more violent and nasty than Canadians. Is this what you are implying?
On 11/25/08 at 12:12 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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"It is a common and unfortunate mistake to conflate the two into a connection between crime and race."
Except that is is empirically correct, regardless of whether the cause is genetic (yes, there are differences between races) or economic. Turns out there are differencs between makles and females as well, and more males commit crimes. Is that due to poverty?
On 11/25/08 at 12:20 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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David, that is a good example of conflation. From Wikipedia: "In logic, conflation is the error of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one. The result of conflating concepts may give rise to fallacies of ambiguity, including the fallacy of four terms in a categorical syllogism. For example, the word "bat" has at least two meanings: a flying animal, and a piece of sporting equipment (such as a baseball bat or a cricket bat). If these two meanings are not distinguished, the result may be the following categorical syllogism, which is clearly intended as a joke (pun):
1. All bats are animals.
2. Some wooden objects are bats.
3. Therefore, some wooden objects are animals."
On 11/25/08 at 12:24 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Chemaine I'm pretty sure that at least one of the reasons males commit more crimes is testosterone.
On 11/25/08 at 12:25 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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Wiki-humor. great.
The problem is, not all bats are animals. All people of the same race are of the same race. All poor people have little money. the a=b, and a = c then does afford b=c.
On 11/25/08 at 12:27 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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"I'm pretty sure that at least one of the reasons males commit more crimes is testosterone."
Really, if you can find a causal relationship between testosterone and criminality that woudl make it easier to prevent crime. i assume this is one of those midelss "well every body knows..." type of specious arguments.
On 11/25/08 at 1:00 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Chemaine, there is a causal relationship between testosterone and male aggression. New research says the cause can be "fluctuating testosterone levels" and other factors such as obesity and diabetes. Here's an interesting article on the subject http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:LF2HrYFCFPAJ:www.warandgender.com/wgmaleag.htm+%22male+aggression%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=usbringing
Second, your race argument could be applied to any race. In Bangor nearly all of the crimes are committed by whites. Of course we know it is individuals of all races who commit crimes.
On 11/25/08 at 1:08 PM,
David889327 wrote:
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Anne and chemaine, I prefaced my tautology with "Roughly speaking" for a reason. While there might not be absolute equivalence, there does appear to be some kind of relationship. Am I hoping that the relationship or problem continue or get larger? No, I'm not. How about if A is not equal to B, and B is not equal to C, is A not equal to C? And Anne, I think you may have a point correlating criminality with testosterone. But what about women and criminality? Women seem to commit different kinds of crimes - is that because of estrogen or merely reduced testosterone? Maybe some of you biologists on the board can help us out with this. Maybe I should ask, Anne, are you a biologist?
On 11/25/08 at 1:10 PM,
snowhownd wrote:
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Wow, you guys are all entertaining, I'll give you that!!!
On 11/25/08 at 1:10 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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non-peer reviewed BS from the internet is as stupid as wikipedia.
Your second point just proves, since the per capita crime rate in bangor is low, that whites are less prone to criminal behavior than other races heavily represented in the prison population.
On 11/25/08 at 1:21 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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I don't know why you say the article is non-peer reviewed BS. It has accolades from the Stanford U Psych. Dept, U of London, Kennedy School of Govt at Harvard U, and is Co-winner of the American Political Science Association's Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, 2002. As for your "per capita" argument, talk about specious! Let's say there is a city of all women of all races with zero crime. What is your race argument now?
On 11/25/08 at 1:25 PM,
kboot73 wrote:
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hey anne, are you man hating again? you want know what we do when we too much testosterone, we just rub one out.
On 11/25/08 at 1:26 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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I said it was non-peer reviewd because it was not subject to peer review. Anonymous peer review is very different from public comments after the fact.
"Let's say there is a city of all women of all races with zero crime".
Find this city and we can discuss a race argument. Until then, your point is moot.
On 11/25/08 at 1:30 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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How do you know it was not peer-reviewed? And I thought we were having a logic-based argument.
On 11/25/08 at 1:36 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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"How do you know it was not peer-reviewed? "
Because if you read the description of the book it says it is just that, and nowhere says it was subject to peer review. Books, even by academics, typically are not. Papers in journals, are.
"And I thought we were having a logic-based argument."
One of us was. The other seems to be using wiki-logic.
On 11/25/08 at 1:45 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Here's a fun fact! The City of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, pop. 1.5 million, has a zero crime rate. The population is 17% Arab, 71% Asian (including Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis), and 3% white. Chemaine I'll let you do the math.
On 11/25/08 at 1:47 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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Great, bold statements that are not supported by any proof. Convincing.
On 11/25/08 at 1:51 PM,
coopah wrote:
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I have always admired Bangor for being one of the few cities where the churches are the highest buildings as testified by the photograph accompanying the story .
On 11/25/08 at 1:52 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Disprove it then. Also, please post the link where it says the book wasn't peer-reviewed.
On 11/25/08 at 2:06 PM,
SteveyDee wrote:
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I would walk downtown Bangor at 2am, not Atlanta that's for sure.
On 11/25/08 at 2:10 PM,
PabMainer wrote:
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Were are you walking to Stevey? From Divas to the slots?
On 11/25/08 at 2:53 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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"Also, please post the link where it says the book wasn't peer-reviewed."
can't provea negative, logically impossible.
truth of matter is, more non-whites commit criems than whites. simple and verifiable.
On 11/25/08 at 3:03 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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chemaine, that report was for Abu Dhabi. I asked "How do you know it was not peer-reviewed?" You answered, "Because if you read the description of the book it says it is just that." That doesn't sound like a negative to me. Why are you pushing this race argument when it seems clear from your past comments that you are not a racist?
On 11/25/08 at 3:04 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Oh, now you're saying "non-whites"? That's quite an about-face.
On 11/25/08 at 3:11 PM,
chemaine wrote:
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Not a racist, but dislike poor logic
On 11/25/08 at 3:33 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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On that point we agree. I dislike it intensely when someone tries to support a racist argument. Take your statement "since the per capita crime rate in Bangor is low, that whites are less prone to criminal behavior than other races heavily represented in the prison population." Where in the article does it say per capita? You didn't establish any aspect of that argument. You act like the only factor here is race. The population of Bangor does not represent the entire white race. And your statement that "more non-whites commit crimes than whites" is just some kind of desperate grasping at straws.
On 11/25/08 at 3:34 PM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
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I used to have conflicting ideas as compared to Anne of MDI. I have learned that although we may disagree most of the time, most of the time she is right on. Which means I am wrong a good part of the time. The mathematical equation for this would look something like this Anne =correct, those to oppose her are less than (< ) or equal (=) to Anne. X being the variable to which you would stand if you opposed her:
X Anne, if in fact you see eye to eye with her then X=Anne but never X >Anne. Pretty much if you find yourself in an argument with her, change your screen name and come back on her side to make yourself look smarter because if you go toe to toe with her you'll look and feel stupid at the end of the day.
On 11/25/08 at 3:45 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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(After being revived from a dead faint Anne wrote) Thanks Rogue_Wave! And see? You're already smarter!
On 11/25/08 at 4:53 PM,
BlueCollarBob wrote:
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Rogue_Wave, I learned that myself when I met the real anne-of-mdi 30 years ago. As someone new to this forum and forums like this in general, I have to say hats off to you for being open minded and for being willing to consider the other person's point of view. I dare to say the differences between average Americans are much smaller than we're all led to believe by our illustrious media and political leaders who exploit the relatively small differences between liberals and conservatives. It is distressing that it seems that the racists here are giving Mainers a bad name. Peace, shalom, salaam.
On 11/25/08 at 9:20 PM,
biologygirl wrote:
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How refreshing to read an intelligent back-and-forth, with few, if any misspellings! That is the kind of thing that gives Maine and Mainers a bad name! It makes us look stupid when we can't write a coherent sentence.
On 11/25/08 at 10:10 PM,
ilovebama_37129 wrote:
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I would like to donate $1.00 to Chemaine's moving to Canada where it is safer fund........ Where I send my dollar?
On 11/25/08 at 10:33 PM,
Maurice_Fleckman wrote:
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HOLY S H ! T !!!!!! What a turn THIS comment section took!!!! Again, I can't wait to visit m home city, and thank you again Bangor for making your residents and Mainahs livi'n away proud!!
Happy holidays to all!!
MF
On 11/25/08 at 10:35 PM,
Maurice_Fleckman wrote:
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*my
woops.....
On 11/26/08 at 11:43 AM,
listenup wrote:
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LMFAO PabMainer............ -----> On 11/25/08 at 02:10 PM, PabMainer wrote:
Where are you walking to Stevey? From Divas to the slots?
On 11/26/08 at 12:21 PM,
PabMainer wrote:
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listenup....LMFAO ??? Your reasoning for answering my question to StevyD?? MYOFB!...
On 11/26/08 at 12:45 PM,
OpinionatedinMaine wrote:
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LOL Kboot....high fives to you and David889327. anne...if you would put your dictionary down long enough you might have a more logic-based conversation. The city of Dubai has nothing to do with the crime rate in Bangor. Instead of worrying what the arab and asian populations, are; why dont you look in your golden book and find out how our goverment can change whats happening in your own state.. I applaud you on your strong opinions and beliefs and you have the right to free speech just like the rest of us...but cant you do it in your own words so you can be taken more seriously?
On 11/26/08 at 1:06 PM,
OpinionatedinMaine wrote:
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Im sorry anne..I didnt mean dictionary, I meant encyclepedia. My point is that you seem like an intelligent lady..it would just be nice for once to hear what YOU had to say..not something that you continuously dictate or copy and pasted from a book.
On 11/28/08 at 8:03 PM,
BlueCollarBob wrote:
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OpinionatedinMaine, chemaine challenged me to find a city with a zero crime rate which is why Dubai turned up. As far as cutting and pasting goes, if someone else has already done the research I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel because this is just an opinion section, not a scholarly review. And you gave kboot a high five? There is no accounting for taste.
On 11/28/08 at 8:06 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Sorry, I just posted the above comment logged in as BCB (my hubby) by mistake. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!
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