The National Council for Home Safety and Security last week announced that Orono was Maine’s second safest community for those with population of 10,000 or more.

The Council is a trade association comprised of home security professionals across the United States. The council advocates for safe communities and home safety with a strong focus on community involvement.

To identify the safest cities, the Council reviewed the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics along with our own population data and internal research. The Council eliminated any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI and removed those with populations under 10,000.

The remaining communities were ranked based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) per 1,000 people. These variables were then weighted, with violent crimes accounting for 1.5 of the total (due to their severity) than property crimes.

The communities were ranked based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) per 1,000 people. These variables were then weighted, with violent crimes assigned a value 1.5 times (due to their severity) that of property crimes.

According to the report, Maine’s violent crime rate of 19.7 per 10,000 inhabitants is the lowest in the nation. The state also has 245.9 average property crimes per 10,000 people.

Orono, however, last year had just four violent crimes last year, and 125 property crimes. Only Kennebunk fared better in the report, accorcing to the Council.

The full report is online at https://www.alarms.org/safest-cities-in-maine-2018/.


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