Bangor’s crime rate is one of the highest in the state, and more than double that of Portland — but that number is likely deceiving due to a flaw in how crimes are being reported.
Bangor had 9,684 “Group A” crimes — including murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault and intimidation — per 100,000 people in 2023 while Portland reported just 3,994, according to data from the state of Maine.
Bangor’s crime rate was driven largely by two offenses: intimidation and simple assault.
Bangor had 550 intimidation cases in 2023, compared with Portland’s 125 intimidation cases that year. Intimidation cases, or criminal threatening in Maine, is when words or actions are used to threaten someone without a physical attack or displaying a dangerous weapon.
The Queen City also had 526 simple assaults compared with 416 in Portland that year, according to the data.
But rather than showing that Bangor is more dangerous than other Maine cities, the disparity in crime rates likely exposes a flaw in the different ways police agencies report crimes throughout the state. This comes as Bangor City Council candidates are pointing to the city’s high crime rate as one of the things they want to fix if they are elected in November.
Maine police departments began using a new database, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, in 2021.
With this system, agencies can report all parts of a crime, said Ernosto Lopez, a senior research specialist for the Council on Criminal Justice. Previously, agencies followed what is called “hierarchy reporting,” where only the most serious crime is logged.
For example, if someone is threatened and is also assaulted, previously only the assault was recorded, Lopez said. Now, both offenses can be recorded.
As a result, violent crimes like homicides likely stayed static while smaller crimes like intimidation may have increased, he said. Bangor had 35 aggravated assaults in 2023 and 26 in 2022. There were 33 in 2018 and 18 in 2019, the years before the switch to the new database.
However, it’s up to each police department to decide whether it will continue to follow hierarchy reporting or if it will report all crimes that allegedly occurred in a single incident, Lopez said.
In Bangor, every crime that is reported to police is entered into the database, even if cops can’t determine that a crime was committed, Sgt. Jason McAmbley said. That includes multiple offenses from the same report.
However, Portland police only report the more serious crime if multiple happened within the same incident, Crime and Police Systems Analyst Kelly Crotty said.
“If both an assault and a threat take place in the same incident, only the assault is reported, as the threat (intimidation) is considered a ‘lesser included offense,’” Crotty said.
Portland’s policy appears to deviate from state standards. All offenses that occur in a single incident are meant to be recorded, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said.
Police departments in Augusta, Hampden and Lewiston did not respond to requests for comment about how they use the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
Crime and safety have become critical issues in downtown Bangor in recent months. In August, a man was charged with domestic violence assault after video footage of the assault outside of a downtown Bangor business circulated on social media. And just last week a man was charged with arson after he allegedly set a fire in December that destroyed a downtown market and displaced at least 13 people.
Social media posts and comments would have people believe “Bangor is so unsafe,” McAmbley said.
“It’s just not true, it’s not accurate,” he said. “We don’t have the number of stranger assaults that social media would lead you to believe.”
Maine’s overall crime rate dropped in 2023 for the second year in a row. Bangor’s fell slightly that year as well — 96.84 per 1,000 people compared with 102.1 in 2022. It lagged behind Augusta (112.46), but far outpaced Portland (39.95) and Lewiston (50.12).
Overall, Bangor reported 3,053 offenses in 2023 that ranged from murder to stolen vehicles to credit card fraud. Portland reported 2,732 total offenses.
The crimes that do happen in Bangor are typically between two parties who know each other, such as domestic partners or acquaintances, McAmbley added. People prey on those they know more often than on strangers, he said.
As a downtown business owner, Rebeca Garcia has had problems with people shoplifting and using drugs. She moved her business, Palomas Gifts, from the corner of Central and Harlow closer to the heart of downtown Bangor this spring.
In the months since she moved to 30 Central St., Garcia said she’s seen less crime, which she attributes at least partly to Bangor’s decision to bring back the walking beat cop.
She and her staff still encounter people experiencing mental health issues or who are homeless, which makes them uneasy, Garcia said.
Police have regular discussions with people who are uncomfortable with the number of homeless people in Bangor and question why police aren’t arresting them, McAmbley said.
But they aren’t committing a crime, he said.
“The homeless are not preying upon people, but boy they make folks uncomfortable,” McAmbley said.