Indicator 73: Community Safety

 

Why This Is Important

Quality of life is important to Mainers, and that is especially true in terms of basic feelings
of safety. Communities that promote and model clear standards of behavior are thought
to create conditions for families to feel safe.

 

Where We Stand

*For 2005, data is being collected differently for this indicator. For the years 2001 and
2004, this question was asked specifically to those with children in the household under
the age of 18. Those results are still presented in the chart below with an asterisk*.
Previous to 2001, this indicator was part of the annual report from the Maine Development Foundation – Measures of Growth. For 2005, this indicator is once again similar to the
earlier Measures of Growth indicators as the intention is to once again provide a more
broad based measure that may tell a story that calls attention to all parts of our
communities. This year the question was added to a bi-annual Tracking Survey ©
conducted by Critical Insights, a market research firm in Portland, Maine. This survey
targets a more broad population of adult residents in Maine.

On this indicator, respondents are asked, “Overall, how safe do you feel in your
community?” Similar to previous periods, for 2005 96% of these respondents stated
that they felt “somewhat” or “very” safe in their community.

One of the Search Institutes developmental assets for youth is “Safety,” which is defined
as the young person feeling safe at home, school, and in the neighborhood. In 2003, the
Search Institute surveyed 6th to12th grade youth nationally and found that 51% of the
respondents experienced this asset.

 

Data Sources and Context

As mentioned above, for 2005 this indicator has a different data source. These
respondents are not exclusively households with children ages 18 and younger. This
indicator was the result of a purchased item (question) that was part of the Tracking
Survey © conducted by Critical Insights one of their bi-annual survey efforts in
November 2005. This public opinion survey had 601 respondents with only 30% of
all respondents having children ages 18 and younger in the household.

National data comes from the Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and
Behaviors Survey. This 2003 survey reached approximately 150,000 6th to12th grade
youth in 202 communities across the United States. Complete results and explanation can
be found at http://www.search-institute.org/research/assets/assetfreqs.html.