You can now compare their local police performance with that of forces across England and Wales online. The public can look up performance categories including crime rates, quality of service and victim satisfaction and compare all 43 police forces in England and Wales via police.uk….
You are also able to access information on offences of public disorder and possession of weapons, shoplifting, criminal damage and arson, theft and drugs recorded on every street.
Minister for policing and justice Nick Herbert said: ‘Our crime mapping website, police.uk, has attracted phenomenal interest since its launch earlier this year with more than 430 million hits to date. We want to build on this success and deliver a more transparent and accountable criminal justice system. The addition of further crime categories and easy access to police force performance data will give people the information and power they need to hold their local forces to account and ensure that crime in their area is driven down.’
Nick Herbert added: ‘Ahead of the introduction of elected police and crime commissioners, crime mapping is just one way in which the government is empowering communities and strengthening the link between the police and the public.’
The government says it’s also working on a number of further improvements to the site which will be brought forward by the end of the year. These include:
* the provision of more specific crime and antisocial behaviour location information. At present crimes are mapped to an anonymous point (called a ‘snap-point’) on a street with 12 or more postal addresses. The aim is publish crime information for key locations such as football stadiums, parks and supermarkets.
* the government will work with the British Transport Police to extend the range of information provided on police.uk so that the public can access information about crime rates at railway stations.
* by May 2012, the public will be able to access police.uk to see what has happened after a crime has been reported to the police and track its progress through the criminal justice system.
