The Home Office has launched anational interactive crime
mapfor England and Wales that gives residents
statistics on local crime figures and details on neighbourhood
policing.
The national map replaces 43 individual maps that the UK's
police forces have been running since January this year, averaging
50,000 hits a month.
The online map figures are for all crime, including burglary,
robbery, violence, vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour in their
area.
Viewers can compare one police area with another, compare
figures over a three-month period against the same period for the
previous year, and see annual crime rates.
They can see details of their neighbourhood police team, local
policing priorities and information about forthcoming local events
such as crime prevention meetings and local surgeries.
The website was developed by the
National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and police forces
across England and Wales, for the Home Office.
Policing and crime minister David Hanson said crime maps were a
key part of delivering neighbourhood policing. "Giving communities
access to information like this not only improves public confidence
but ensures police are responding to local people's needs," he
said.
He said people wanted this information, which allowed them to
hold the police to account and helped create a more responsive and
effective service.
NPIA deputy chief executive Steve Mortimore said the national
crime map was "a vital step forward" in increasing public
confidence in the service police gave them.
"Fear of crime is known to outstrip the reality," he said. "The
crime map will give people the facts about local crime and what
forces are doing about it."
Crime mapping is part of the national
Policing
Pledge, which sets out standards and commitments on police
response times, neighbourhood policing community engagement and
time spent "on patch".
The new crime map is part of the government's initiative under
web inventor Tim Berners-Lee to make more public information
available in reusable formats.
For more Home Office data go to
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/data.