Epidemic of Unreported Crime

Leadership starts at the top. In Maine and our nation, the coincidence of unreported crime – personal and property – and public fear is epidemic. That is one reason President Trump cracked down in DC, and why we need to crack down in Maine.

The data is clear and indicts Democrats. Start national, then local. Nationally, two trends run in parallel. Few leaders connect these dots, since the line points to them.

The trends are record unreported crime and record public fear. At first blush, there is a paradox in the data. Federal and state reports, including in Maine, say crime is low. But – at the same time – people feel increasingly unsafe. Why?

FBI data is based on volunteer reporting by states, cities, and the persons victimized, says low crime. In Maine, the Bangor Daily News just cited that data.

In a story entitled “Maine is safe, but crime is still a political flashpoint,” the paper quoted me – a gubernatorial candidate, lifetime crime fighter – and dismissed the idea that drug trafficking, crime, addiction, and overdoses are actually up.

Mocking the idea that “organized crime” is in Maine, a remarkable assumption given statewide police logs that show weekly takedowns, gunfights, and enough drugs found every few days to kill half the state. They cited FBI data.

While this is a Maine paper, coincidentally with a parent that got $2.4 million from the State for “public relations” – a strange fact – this approach to crime is not unique in Maine. Overreliance on incomplete data is common.

Reliance on data voluntarily reported is fraught with error. The data, even according to non-partisan, disinterested sources, is dangerously incomplete.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Crime Victimization Survey report that 60 percent of all violent crimes and 70 percent of all property crimes go unreported. When you consult victim admissions, America has seen a record 44 percent increase in violence – “the largest ever recorded.”

Maine is notorious for underreporting, rural population, people easily victimized, few consequences, a State in decline, too few police, too little protection, much fear.

In Maine, the problem is increasingly obvious to all. Drug traffickers victimize the young, homeless, and geographically dispersed, committing crimes against these populations. People have nowhere to turn, feel Democrat leaders are impotent or do not care, and some even suspected of being complicit. Lawlessness just grows.

Maine Democrats are permissive of this growing culture of illegality, illegal alien imports, “sanctuary” status, no response to drug, human, and sex trafficking, rampant abuse of children and women, normalized hopelessness, and indifference.

This is what Democrats have delivered. More than 80 percent of domestic abuse is polydrug-related, and Maine has an epidemic of domestic abuse. One in four women face physical violence, and half of all homicides in Maine are domestic abuse.

Abuse of children – crimes against children – is worse; the Democrats are unwilling or unable to protect abused children, letting them die. “The most recent federal foster care data showed that the national foster care average fell 15 percent…while in Maine, it rose nearly 40 percent.” The cascading effect is tragic.

Public reports show crimes against children, including death and abuse, where Maine’s dysfunctional, corrupt Department of Health and Human Services was repeatedly contacted – continue apace, another child killed last month after 17 reports to DHHS investigators, incompetent, ineffective, tied to dozens of deaths.

Widening the lens, the real question about unreported crime is why? Why is so much crime – in Maine and nationally – unreported? Gallop offers the reason: “Personal safety fears are at a three-decade high in the US.” 40 percent of Americans are afraid to walk at night within one mile of their home. Maine is on steroids; people who were never afraid for themselves and their kids are now afraid.

Bottom line: Public fear comes from lack of trust in political leaders to keep us safe, an intentionally hobbled, undermanned, underequipped police force, culture of lawlessness. Unchecked crime creates fear, which accelerates the crime.

Truth is that unreported crime is – especially in Maine – epidemic. Leaders should restore public safety. Without it, life is hard. That starts with leadership at the top.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!