ROCKLAND, Maine — The city has seen the amount of serious crime drop to a record low for the fifth consecutive year.
The uniform crime report statistics for Rockland in 2015 show that there were 200 crimes which fall under the offenses compiled annually for state and federal reports. This is down from 203 in 2014.
Since 2010, when 427 offenses were reported, the number of crimes has fallen by more than half.
Police indicate that the drop is due in part to the departure of Wal-Mart from Rockland. The store here closed in October 2013 and a new Wal-Mart supercenter opened in neighboring Thomaston. Wal-Mart’s relocation meant that the number of shoplifting cases dropped in Rockland while increasing in Thomaston.
Shoplifting is recorded under crime statistics as larceny. In 2012, the last full year that Wal-Mart was in Rockland, the city recorded 282 larcenies. That dropped to 202 in 2013, 169 in 2014 and 167 last year.
Rockland also saw a drop in other crimes, according to the 2015 uniform crime reports.
The city for the fifth straight year had no murders. There were no rapes reported in 2015, compared to one in 2014. There also were no robberies last year, down from one reported in 2014.
One aggravated assault was reported, down from two in 2014.
The one category of UCR crimes in which there was an increase last year in Rockland was burglaries, which rose from 21 in 2014 to 27 in 2015.
One arson was reported in 2015, down from five in 2014.
Even without considering the Wal-Mart factor, the amount of crimes occurring in Rockland has fallen dramatically over the past few decades. In 1980, Rockland recorded 749 offenses that were included in the categories monitored under the uniform crime reports.
In 2010, Rockland had the third-highest rate of crime in Maine per 1,000 population. That had fallen to 24th statewide in 2014. The ranking for 2015 will not be known until the statewide report is released later this year by the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Rockland Police Chief Bruce Boucher said demographics is playing a role as the age of the population increases. He said Knox County overall has seen a decline in crimes. The median age of Knox County is 47 years old, compared to 38 nationwide.
The chief also credited information sharing between law enforcement agencies for helping to solve crimes and put offenders in jail so they cannot commit additional crimes. He pointed out that Rockland benefits not only from having its own department, but having the county sheriff’s office in Rockland, as well as state police troopers, drug agents, probation and parole officers and members of the U.S. Coast Guard located locally.
He cited a case involving a string of burglaries across central Maine, including one at J.C. Penney, as a prime example of how cooperation among law enforcement agencies has led to solving crimes.