Safe Choice Security, a nationwide seller of wireless home and business alarm systems, has released its list of the seven safest communities in Maine. The company has issued similar lists for a number of states, presumably in an effort to build brand recognition through the social media distribution of its listicles.
The decision to cap the list at seven — instead of a round number like 10 or 20, figures the company used for other states’ list — seems from the outside to be arbitrary. So if your hometown doesn’t appear on this list and you think it should be, just write yourself in at No. 8, and congratulate yourself on a strong top 10 finish.
Safe Choice Security writes the following about our state:
‘Mountains, forest ranges, rivers, picturesque waterfalls and a breathtaking coastline all combine to make Maine a superb choice for anyone looking to relocate to an area that seems almost set back in time. Small towns pepper the state but there is an abundance of untouched land, a haven of quiet for anyone who loves the outdoor[s].
However, reality encrusts on this idyllic state in the form of crime. Maine has its share of it, especially in the bigger towns throughout the state.’
Hear that? Just because federal crime statistics annually indicate Maine is one of the safest places in the country, that’s no reason not to live in constant fear and/or install a wireless home or business alarm system.
(In all seriousness, there are plenty of good reasons to take security precautions with your home and business, even if the statistical odds of your home or business being broken into in Maine are lower than almost anywhere else in America. The odds are low, but they’re not zero.)
Safe Choice Security did use some hard numbers in determining its safest Maine communities, namely the numbers of violent and property crimes per 1,000 residents, according to 2012 FBI crime data.
Without further ado, your top seven:
- Kennebunk — Population of nearly 11,000; 0.92 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 14.27 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Topsham — Population of nearly 9,000; 0.68 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 24.97 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Gorham — Population of more than 16,000; 1.58 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 15.68 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Caribou — Population of more than 8,000; 0.61 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 20.12 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Winslow — Population of nearly 8,000; 0.51 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 18.62 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Kittery — Population of nearly 10,000; 1.05 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 18.01 property crimes per 1,000 people.
- Yarmouth — Population of more than 8,000; 0.48 violent crimes per 1,000 people; 9.31 property crimes per 1,000 people.
To read what Safe Choice Security has to say about each of those cities and towns, click here. It might surprise some people who aren’t from the area to see Kennebunk at the top of the list, considering how much airtime the town’s police received over the last couple of years due to the scandalous Zumba studio prostitution case.
To contextualize it, though, it’s probably important to note that one of the reasons that case was so sensational was precisely because it took place somewhere so otherwise serenely safe. Plus, prostitution is neither a “violent” nor “property” crime, so the 60-someodd convictions that came from that sprawling case, with dozens of clients, wouldn’t show up in this calculation.
Safe Choice lauds the Kennebunk police for its community involvement and Citizens Police Academy, and this is all based on hard 2012 numbers that don’t factor in instances like one in July, when two of the town’s patrol officers saved the life of an elderly driver during a traffic stop.