By Tim Ferguson, 6 January 2009 14:38
NEWS
Online maps detailing local levels of crime are now available to the public across England and Wales, allowing residents to keep an eye on the performance of their police forces.
The maps allow people to view details of crime trends in all 43 local police force regions, including the volume of crime and comparisons with the rest of the country.
By typing in their postcode, users can access data down to ward level on crimes such as anti-social behaviour, burglary, robbery and vehicle crime.
The service will also provide information on how local crime-fighting partnerships are having an impact.
The plan was first announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in July and the Met Police launched a beta version of the service in August.
To see how the service works in London click here. For areas outside London, maps are available through the local police force website.
Comments
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1. Roger Huffadine
Interesting map for London - it shows that crime in the River Thames is below average ;) or am I being silly?
2. anonymous
Misinformation again! - The statistics used are of the 'recorded' crime statistics, not the actual committed crimes, or even the reported ones.
Note that a major reason for the dop in the statistics could be the time (and phone/travel cost it takes to actually report a crime.
Some personal statistics:
Over 6 hours to report criminal damage to a car - Not a 999 emergency as no one was being injured use the 'area call centre' number obtainable from the internet!
(Later I got asked for the name and addres of the vehicle owner - like I have access to the DVLA number plate database!)
4 hours to report an assault: - Not an emergency as the assaulter had left the shop - It then took over a month for the 'priority' of the crime to justify police time to ask the shopkeeper for a copy of the video recording.
4 hours to compete the reporting of a broken car window - I needed the 'crime number' for the insurance.
And the window replacement took 30 minutes and cost less to replace than the 4hours income lost.
So - will I bother reporting crime in the future.
You bet, and with follow-up complaints to my MP about the difficulties in getting the appropriate action taken by the police force!