A Dangerous Trend Known as ‘Street Takeovers’ Has Found its Way to Maine

When it comes to crime, even though we often read about it in the local news every day, Maine is, at least statistically, one of the safest places you can live anywhere in the United States.

So with this in mind, it makes it even scarier when certain criminal trends that we have been reading about nationally for awhile make their way to the Pine Tree State. And, sadly, that's exactly what has happened with 'street takeovers'.

But what exactly is a street takeover? Well, according to an article from Fox8 in Ohio, a state that has recently grappled with the same problem, the "street takeover" trend refers to a type of illegal street activity where large groups of people gather to take over intersections, parking lots or other public spaces to perform dangerous stunts with their vehicles.

These events often include things like burnouts, donuts and drag racing. These takeovers often involve large crowds of spectators. The takeovers are typically organized through social media platforms and can even happen spontaneously, making it difficult for law enforcement to both predict and prevent them.

These scary and dangerous takeovers have now reached Maine. According to WGME 13, Maine police are referring to this trend as 'a recipe for disaster'. The news station reports that these Maine takeovers have largely been put on by one group on social media and that they expecting another one very soon.

The most recent 'street takeover' in Maine happened in Scarborough over the 4th of July weekend, WGME reported. The meetup happened at the intersection of County Road and Saco streets, according to police.

Police say the social media account, 207SlowBoyz has been the primary avenue or organizing these chaotic events.

Hopefully, with enough awareness, these 'street takeovers' will see themselves out of our otherwise peaceful and laidback state.