When the N. Interstate MAX train pulls into the Prescott stop, neighbors watch a new cast of characters emerge.

“I've only been here three months and I’ve had hookers walk up to me, walk all the way up to my door,” said Ken Daniels.

Of course, most of the riders are nice, well-meaning commuters.

But Daniels says he had master the art of saying 'no' to drug dealers right away.

“What I do is ignore it. I go, ‘nothing personal, but goodbye. I don't want to talk to you.”

Survey: Have you ever felt unsafe on MAX?

The debate about MAX and crime has been heating up since September when Portland Police

Sgt. Kim Preston warned a Southeast Portland neighborhood awaiting a new MAX line that “MAX has been a living nightmare for us.”

He added, "I would not ride it at night -- and I'm armed all the time. There are massive fights, guns displayed, stabbings, people being threatened and bullied."

TriMet says that's an exaggeration.

It says its MAX trains get bad attention when high profile crimes occur along its routes.

But in reality, says TriMet spokesman Mary Fetsch, only one crime report comes through every 100-thousand riders.

“We have very few reported incidents a day,” she said. “I mean you have to really look at the stats and the neighborhood and see what's happening to really put it in perspective.”

Among the seven Portland neighborhoods adjacent to Interstate Ave., Newschannel 8 compared crime before the train began operating there in May, 2004 to now.

So far, Portland crime statistics show two of those neighborhoods have seen double-digit increases in crime rates while the other five neighborhoods have seen decreases.

The Piedmont Neighborhood saw crime rate drop by half since MAX opened.

Portland police Sgt. Brian Schmautz says those overall crime rate changes don't tell the whole story.

He says crooks brag about using MAX to get around the city.

Their crimes are more concentrated, he says, around the train tracks.

“You'd be sticking your head in the sand if you were to say there is no crime.”

Near Daniels' house - within a half-mile radius of the MAX stop at Prescott- statistics that describe the locations and types of crimes over the past year show that drug crimes, for example, occurred mostly next to the train line.

A similar effect occurs when you look at robberies near that train stop.

Disorderly conduct crimes are also clumped along the MAX line but other crimes seem much more spread out.

“It doesn't mean that the system is bad,” explained Sgt. Schmautz, “but it is the reality of the system that exists.”

Meanwhile, Interstate MAX gets credit for infusing $6 billion of investment in a once forgotten row of neighborhoods, according to Fetsch.

“You now have a community that is walkable, that's really a nice place to be. It used to be a thoroughfare.”

When you weigh the pros and the cons, next door neighbors like Daniels say even the unsavory characters who get off the train aren't that bad.

He says it's the job of each neighbor to recognize who the bad guys are and know how to handle them.

“You acquire the stupidity in letting them takeover or you acquire some smarts. 'No, I don't even want to talk to you. Leave me alone.'”

TriMet police use numerous surveillance cameras and perform frequent drug missions.

Their goal is to keep the system one of the safest in the United States.

The new MAX line train from Downtown Portland to Clackamas opens September, 2009.

More: Trouble spots MAP

More: Neighborhood map

Link: About Interstate MAX

Link: Future 205 MAX