MACHIAS, Maine — The latest report by the Maine Department of Public Safety shows law enforcement agencies in Washington County had the state’s best track record for solving crimes in 2010 while Penobscot County had the lowest rate of crime-solving success and Cumberland County had the second-worst.
The state’s 2010 analysis of annual Uniform Crime Reporting statistics shows 52.2 percent of the 740 crimes committed in Washington County were resolved in 2010. That compares with 24.2 percent of 4,797 crimes in Penobscot County, 25.3 percent of 8,054 crimes in Cumberland County, 26.6 percent of 897 crimes in Knox County and 26.9 percent of 5,030 crimes in York County.
The report shows that the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department had the lowest case clearance percentage among non-university police agencies in 2010, solving 9.2 percent of 740 crimes investigated, while the Bangor and Brewer police departments had significantly higher rates.
In Cumberland County, the Portland Police Department had just a 15.1 percent clearance rate on 3,170 crimes in 2010.
For Uniform Crime Reporting purposes, a crime is “cleared” when a law enforcement agency identifies an alleged offender and there is enough evidence to file a charge and to take that offender into custody.
Other circumstances can lead to case clearance, including the death of an offender, a confession, extradition to another jurisdiction, victim refusal to pursue prosecution, and the decision by prosecutors not to proceed with legal action.
Statewide, law enforcement agencies cleared 29.2 percent of all crimes in 2010, lower than the 30.8 percent rate in 2009.
The state’s statistics show that Washington County’s clearance rate was driven by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, which had its own clearance rate of 66.3 percent for the 119 crimes it investigated in 2010. A close second was Eastport, which cleared six of 10 crimes investigated, or 60 percent, and Calais, which had a 57.3 case-closed percentage for the 241 crimes it investigated in 2010.
Of the 740 crimes investigated in Washington County in 2010, 389 were committed in rural areas and 351 in urban areas. Most were property crimes, including 404 thefts and 193 burglaries.
“This is the second year running we’ve topped the case clearance list among the state’s sheriff’s departments,” Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith said Friday. “Which is very good, given that we don’t even have a detective. What we do have is good, dedicated people. We have the highest clearance rate happening with the lowest-paid staff.”
Smith attributes the department’s crime-solving success to quick response.
“When we have a major crime, we dedicate all of our resources in going after it,” he said. “The key to solving a crime is the speed at which you get at it. We try to get things solved as soon as possible.”
The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department’s clearance record in 2010 showed resolution of 9.2 percent of 740 crimes investigated, 691 of which were property crimes. By comparison, the Bangor Police Department worked 1,791 cases in 2010 and had a clearance rate of 31.3 percent. The Brewer Police Department clearance rate was the highest in Penobscot County, with the department resolving 43.8 percent of the 322 crimes it investigated.
The campus police at three universities had lower clearance rates then the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department. Police at the University of Southern Maine, University of Maine in Orono and University of Maine at Farmington solved 4.9 percent, 5.1 percent and 5.9 percent of crimes respectively.
Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said Friday he hadn’t seen the 9.2 percent clearance statistic and that he was surprised by the number.
“I’ve never known our number to be that low,” Ross said. “Our number usually falls somewhere between 19 and 29 [percent]. I can’t argue with what’s been reported, but it may be a matter of reporting accuracy.”
Ross said later in the day, after reviewing the report, that the numbers reflected were “inconsistent with what we know and what we do.”
“Either we’ve done a poor job of reporting, or a poor job of investigation,” he told the Bangor Daily News. ”I think we’ve done a poor job of reporting. What they have there is clearly what we reported, but it’s inconsistent with what we know and what we do. We’ll get it fixed.”
Penobscot County District Attorney Chris Almy cautioned against reading too much into the numbers given that different law enforcement agencies may have different definitions of “case clearance” that skew efforts to make meaningful, apples-to-apples comparisons.
“Remember, too, that there’s differences between closing a case in terms of investigation and closing a case in terms of prosecution,” Almy said Friday. “I think some police departments cook the books to keep their numbers up. But I can tell you that the [Penobscot County] Sheriff’s Department has good investigators, and the detectives in particular are good.”
Almy seemed surprised to learn that state crime statistics show Penobscot County was the most crime-prone of Maine’s 16 counties in 2010, with 31.87 crimes reported for every 1,000 residents. That compares with 28.66 crimes per 1,000 residents in Cumberland County. Sagadahoc County saw the least criminal activity in 2010, with 16.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.
The crime index rate for Maine in 2010 was 26.09 offenses per 1,000 people. Violent crimes occurred at a rate of 1.2 offenses per 1,000 residents, with property crimes occurring in 2010 at a rate of 24.89 per 1,000 residents.
The report shows that the total number of juveniles and adults arrested, summoned or cited by police was 54,312, a decrease of 3.5 percent from the 56,266 people recorded in 2009. Drug arrests increased 0.6 percent, with 5,345 adults and 567 juveniles charged with drug offenses.
The statistical analysis done for the report also was translated into a “crime clock” that shows there was a crime committed in Maine in 2010 every 15 minutes, 10 seconds. More specifically, violent crime was committed every five hours, 31 minutes, including a murder every 15 days and a rape every 23 hours. A property crime was committed in 2010 every 16 minutes.
Cumberland County retained it dubious distinction as Maine’s “murder capital” with eight homicides in 2010, up from seven in 2009. There were three murders in Penobscot County in 2010, down from four the year before. Waldo County, which had no homicides in 2009, had two in 2010. There were no murders in Hancock or Washington counties in either 2009 or 2010.
There were 24 murders committed statewide during 2010, which is a 7.7 percent decrease from the 26 murders reported in 2009. All but two of the 2010 homicides were cleared. Maine’s 10-year average for murders is 21 annually.
Cumberland County also saw gross sexual assault reports increase to 85 in 2010, up from 68 the year before. Rape also was up in Waldo County, from eight in 2009 to 15 in 2010. There were eight rapes reported in Washington County in 2010, up from seven the year before. Hancock County law enforcement handled six rapes in 2010, down from five in 2009. There were 19 rape investigations in Penobscot County in 2010, down from 21 the previous year.
The calendar year 2010 crime statistics are the most recent figures available. A complete analysis of Maine crime in 2011 is expected to be released this fall.
Good job!!!!!
740 crimes is not really that bad…
Andy Taylor and Barney Phife would be proud!
These numbers are only as accurate as reported by the originating agency. Ask Washington County Sheriff’s Office what their “suspended” case rate is like? These are cases that are suppose to be left in a hibernation state until more information is obtained to further the case along, or the investigating deputy has time to work the case further. Take a look and see how many closed cases realy should be have been suspsended cases, as no one was charged for the crime or there was no suspect, hence the case was closed.
I would check those numbers in other counties as well, I know one personally on the midcoast that manipulates the numbers.
There are more than a few Federal Agency’s that ‘fudge’ their number’s too. It all comes down to how their yearly statistic’s are put together and reported. After all , no one want to be the one that makes the ‘Boss’ look bad, no matter how the truth comes out, do they ?
So the places with the least mount of people resolve the most crimes. Is this a surprise?
So… the supposedly rogue sheriff has a good team and is better at what they do than any other dept. in the State. There seem to be the jealous types who will, of course, discount the report. Those who will claim the books are slanted depending on information submitted. But, I am sure that no one will give the good sheriff the credit due him for a job well done. After all, he doesn’t play the political games others expect. And perhaps that is why Washington County has a good report (such as it is). Anyway, Good job Sheriff, try to improve on it.
Good job Sheriff Smith.
Penobscot county lowest arrest rate in the State. That is just another reason not to go downtown Bangor after 5 pm. it would scare me with all the hooded people around.. I hear durning the day there are the white and blue collar criminials. I don’t know which are more scary.
Hooded people? Are you saying that to you, anyone that wears a hooded shirt is a hoodlum? Wow guess I better stop wearing mine when I’m chilly huh?
And…….I bet 99.9 convictions are plea bargains !!!!! Bunch of criminals running that courthouse !
Washington County has a slight advantage in that they know who the people are that are commiting the crimes. Most of these people grew up here and have been on the radar screen for a long time.
If someone new moves here and starts to commit crimes they are easy to spot because they will be associating with the usual criminals. It’s sort of like living in a fish bowl. Most everybody knows who is doing crimes and keeps their eyes on them.
Good job by the Sheriffs, MSP, Calais, Baileyville, Eastport, Machias, and Harrington PD’s.
They don’t know who is committing crimes in every instance. Cops come into where I work quite often and ask if we’ve heard or seen anything about such n such a crime, cuz they don’t know who is committing them. They might be easy to spot, but you actually have to CATCH them (doing the crime or find evidence with them and have the charges stick.) SOME people are known, but you have up and coming new criminals every day around WC………some are kids getting caught up in drugs etc and some are transplants from other areas of Maine…….cuz afterall, drugs are very obtainable in WC and if Donnie Smith and his people keep on this track, maybe that won’t be true after time.
Good job, to all local law enforcement in WC. Keep up the good work!
I am only surprised by the rankings. I would check the reporting methods used, especially by Knox County Sheriff Department, bet they are fudging the numbers, easy to do.
You can bet that knox and waldo counties were down there as well as cumberland.
Great job, Sheriff Smith! Most of us appreciate your hard work, dedication to principles and success.
Penobscot at the bottom, and we have a sheriff that tells someone the he is about to get investigated, Big Surprise!
The one thing nice about living in small towns (I lived in Portage Lake for 20 years) is this. Officer ” Can you describe the suspect?” “Yup, it was Fred.” :)
I would like to remind peole that it’s not just the sheriffs dept that was involved in this, it was all law enforcement agencies in Washington County. While Sheriff Smith should be commended, so should all the other agencies.
That being said, I would like to see a breakdown of what crimes were included in this report. One in particular is drug crimes, mainly drug possession, trafficking and theft of prescription drugs. I feel that once most of these get to court, the charges are dismissed and that would be included in “cleared cases.” All that is, is allowing the drugs to still be a rampant part of our society and not clearing up a damn thing. If someone is brought up on drug charges, they have to be convicted and go to jail/prison……..and most of the time, it’s ‘who’ that decides and overturns a DA’s recommendations??
Looks like it’s time to apply a boot to the backside of the Penobscot County Sheriff.
The criminals in Washington County are just more stupid than elsewhere?
You are so right about small communities where almost any suspect who is sighted is also known by name, rank and address as well as how their family members are, etc. And when there are few exits from a particular site of crime…it is easier to block the two streets that could be used to leave the scene. And in my neighborhood, almost everyone has at least one dog that would bark up a storm if someone were running by or just being near the property line. Not like a city, that’s for sure.
As any competent criminologist would tell you, these numbers are gravely suspect. First, Penobscot and Cumberland Counties are the most heavily urbanized in the state; local ne’er do wells are much more easily known in small, rural communities. Second, the clearance rate is defined as the number of arrests (and other forms of clearance) over reported index crimes; both the numerator and denominator can be manipulated to affect both crime rates and clearance rates. I’ve done research on this very issue and I can state with certainty that there is considerable variation between departments. Some years ago, I looked at an enormous amount of data on arrests for domestic violence in one of Maine’s most rural counties. The differences between departments were huge, far beyond what the differences in population would indicate they should be. (Domestic violence is not one of the index crimes that make up the crime rate, but my experience in analyzing domestic violence data would probably apply to index crimes as well.) Third, since the denominator relies on reported crimes, some of the variation is going to be function of witnesses and crime victims willingness to report crime. The greater the willingness to report crime, the higher the crime rate, but the lower the clearance rate. One could argue that it is at least possible that a department with lower clearances and higher crime rates is actually doing a better job because citizens in those towns and counties demonstrate a greater willingness to report crimes.
Good thing the deputies in Washington County can do an investigation because it isn’t Donnies skill as an investigator that is guiding them. He has proven from more that one late night email that he can’t even detect his meds to take on a regular basis.