PORTLAND (AP) – Crimes against Maine’s homeless have become disturbingly frequent and increasingly more violent in recent years, according to a report released Thursday by advocates for the homeless.

The report was compiled by The Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and details more than 18 months of investigation and describes stories of assaults and violent acts against the homeless that were gathered through about 170 interviews.

“The life of homeless people is hard, but their life is made far, far harder by an extraordinary high level of violence,” said Steve Wessler, the center’s executive director. “Homeless people are people who are deserving of as much respect as anyone.”

The center recorded stories of criminal attacks on homeless people, homeless Mainers being denied stable housing and ripped off by store clerks.

One man told investigators he was stabbed in the back by two teens beneath the Casco Bay Bridge in Portland. Another homeless man said he was assaulted in Kennedy Park in Lewiston and cut with shards of glass.

Also among documented incidents, which took place between 2001 and 2004, were teenagers shooting homeless people with paintball guns, pelting them with rocks and beating them with sticks.

“We have every reason to believe that the people who are committing these assaults on the homeless believe that they can get away with it. They believe that they are victimizing people who don’t count,” said Steve Huston, an outreach worker in Portland. “As a state, we must stand up and send a different message.”

Homeless populations in nine Maine cities were interviewed for the report. They were: Alfred, Augusta, Bangor, Brunswick, Ellsworth, Lewiston, Orland, Portland and Waterville. About 65 percent of the interviews were conducted in Portland, which has the state’s largest population.

The report also offered a series of suggestions including amending the Maine Civil Rights Act to include homelessness and enhanced training for agencies such as police departments that are often tasked with helping the homeless survive.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office has begun work on a similar report detailing attacks on Maine’s homeless but will rely on information gathered from interviews with police departments and shelter officials instead of the homeless.

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