Out of State cars getting vandalized at trailheads...

[peakbagger]

There had always been a young and dumb crowd in the Berlin/Gorham area but it has been substantially reduced as the population of high school age kids dropped precipitously. Mill workers tended to have a bit more income and cars/trucks for their kids to go around in. With the mills decline, families have tighter budgets and I expect fewer cars/trucks for the kids to cruise around in. On the other hand lots more ATVs to cruise around in.

There is new population of folks from Mass buying second homes in town that could be contributing to an uptick?. Success Pond road is posting against trailbikes and ATVs after the parking lot for the trail network yet I have personally witnessed a lot of illegal traffic well along that road as far as the Speck Pond trail. The fish hatchery used to have issues with folks getting in and vandalizing the fishways and the gate was used infrequently to trap some folks up to no good. The locals usually figured out if they want to party there are far better places to go than behind the fish hatchery gate.

 

[Mike P.]

There had always been a young and dumb crowd in the Berlin/Gorham area but it has been substantially reduced as the population of high school age kids dropped precipitously. Mill workers tended to have a bit more income and cars/trucks for their kids to go around in. With the mills decline, families have tighter budgets and I expect fewer cars/trucks for the kids to cruise around in. On the other hand lots more ATVs to cruise around in.

There is new population of folks from Mass buying second homes in town that could be contributing to an uptick?. .

If you first home is a place in MA with lots of distractions and Mom and Dad buy a 2nd home up north, you might find yourself in a social and entertainment dessert, made worse by Covid-19. Mischief starts to look like something to do.....

 

[skiguy]

A lot of of interesting opinions but I thought there was a need for hard cold facts here in order to establish a trend. One can hypothesize but to call out another board in light of bringing one's theory into the light of another board does not hold much water. Are the demographic and socio-economic swipes really necessary?

 

[rbi99]

Yeah, I camped out at Cabot last Thursday. Man, what a long drive to get up there./QUOTE]

Tell me about that one!!! Coming up from Cleveland is a 12 hr drive.

 

[BISCUT]

The "young and dumb" crowd is what has caused the hatchery to resume locking the gate at night.

Any crime stats to throw at us? It does happen but it's pretty rare. At Cabot? Please educate me and show me where my feeling or relative safety at Cabot is unwarranted.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Any crime stats to throw at us? It does happen but it's pretty rare. At Cabot? Please educate me and show me where my feeling or relative safety at Cabot is unwarranted.

I don't think it's unwarranted, i feel safer there than most places given the constant presence of folks in authority. To say the area doesn't attract the "young and dumb" crowd isn't exactly true, though. They have resumed locking the gate at night after years of leaving it open because of partying in the area. If you want more details you'll have to give them a call. I can tell you I've seen several dozen people having a rager on the Unknown Pond Trail in the past, though their ages were mixed and I can't speak to the intelligence of most of them.

 

[peakbagger]

Sadly, the only local newspaper that covers the area is on the decline and thus a local source of corelated info is nonexistent. The LEOs do maintain records but given there are at least 4 possibly five entities that may respond to an incident unless someone makes a full time job of requesting the data from all the entities and correlating it, hard numbers are not readily available. In the past, car break ins tended to be a low priority until there was a significant enough uptick to merit a "task force". Usually the driver for a task force was a local newspaper would report on it and generally it would be several weeks before the task force got a bust. Fish and Game frequently would be involved but they are basically full out dealing with ATV incidents.

 

[BISCUT]

I don't think it's unwarranted, i feel safer there than most places given the constant presence of folks in authority. To say the area doesn't attract the "young and dumb" crowd isn't exactly true, though. They have resumed locking the gate at night after years of leaving it open because of partying in the area. If you want more details you'll have to give them a call. I can tell you I've seen several dozen people having a rager on the Unknown Pond Trail in the past, though their ages were mixed and I can't speak to the intelligence of most of them.

"Feelings" are one thing and that is an important aspect. Partying? Is a crime? Maybe a trespass? There have been times when I parked in VT and felt a little nervous but nothing ever happened. I'm pretty leery of the 2 legged animals that prey on a car they know won't be attended too for hours. I have to say, I did not feel that way when I did Cabot (3 or 4 years ago). But that was a perceived feeling and I don't have actual stats to back up or counter that feeling.

I'm challenging here but please don't think I take car breaks lightly. A large portion of crimes are not random and most often the victim and perpetrator know or know of each other. Car breaks are often one of those random crimes that really hits what is a truly innocent person.