Website enables residents to see stats on a street by street level

A new website, launched this week by the Home Office, enables residents to see crime statistics on a street by street level.

www.police.uk provides links to all wards within Chiswick with interactive maps detailing the number and type of crimes and anti-social behaviour both within the immediate area around your home and by street by using a simple postcode search.

The system, which was developed by the National Policing Improvement Agency for the Home Office, will be updated on a monthly basis.

Ealing Central and Acton MP Angie Bray said the new website will help to provide transparent information so local communities know about crime in the community.

‘I am really pleased that the Government has demonstrated they are serious about cutting the levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in our communities. By providing crime data in an open format that anyone can access, even from their mobile phone, we can all hold our local police force to account. We can ensure they deal with the issues that actually matter to us locally not those decided by a Whitehall bureaucrat. I think this new initiative to give us all access to local crime stats, right up to our doorstep, is a great step forward in helping us understand the local crime picture and in making sure that our local police are focusing their resources on keeping the streets of Ealing and Acton safe’.

Home Secretary Theresa May said people had lost confidence in national crime figures, and the maps would give real facts and make police more accountable.

Information is broken down into six categories - burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence, other crime and anti-social behaviour. Sex crimes have been included in the "other" category, along with crimes such as theft and shoplifting, to help prevent victims from being identified.

Local police appeals and details of police community meetings will also be published alongside the maps. Crime trends will also be established as the site develops and could be extended to include details on the outcomes of court cases, or a system for individual victims to track the progress of their case online.

The government said the site was an important part of its "transparency agenda", making the data available in an open format so that communities could use it to "help people engage with the police in a meaningful way".

6th February 2011