Launched in January this year (and as reported on Info4Security), the website www.police.uk allows members of the public to determine the nature and scale of criminality and/or anti-social behaviour that has taken place in their postcode area for a given period (April’s data, for example, has now been made available on the site).
In practice, the site compares data for neighbourhoods, police forces and streets thanks to maps, analyses and reports.
Importantly, the site makes data readily available in an easy-to-use format. In turn, this has allowed developers to create applications for smart phones as well as alternative web platforms.
For example, one of eight products which people with an interest in crime information are being encouraged to explore is the Crime Finder application for Apple iPhones. This uses the latest crime statistics and ‘Augmented Reality’ to give the end user a visual sense of crime taking place in their area.
Employing the GPS, camera and compass on the phone allows a view of your surroundings in real-time while overlaying crime incidents for streets in England and Wales within 250 metres radius using a colourful key of icons.
The Crime Finder application is also available for the Apple iPod and iPad platforms.
Data opened up to scrutiny
Dan Lewis, chief executive of the Economic Policy Centre and lead developer of www.ukcrimestats.com (new window)(Opens in a new window) said: “Britain is once again leading the world, this time in opening up public data to developers,” explained Dan Lewis, chief executive of the Economic Policy Centre and lead developer of www.ukcrimestats.com. “Arguably, there is no more important data than that which is focused on crime.”
Lewis went on to comment: “It will always be disputed as to whether crime is more of an economic or a social problem, but either way solving it will always be an information-driven solution.”
Lewis feels strongly that, for most people on a daily basis, crime’s impact is relative, affecting insurance premiums and blighting their area rather than being personal and direct.
“That’s why, when using the public data,” he continued, “we deliberately developed a ranking system for streets, neighbourhoods and constituencies that would give people a relative idea of risk they didn’t have before.”
In a recent blog post on www.ukcrimestats.com, Lewis poses the question: ‘How accurate is the British Crime Survey?’ on the basis that a few people have remarked to him that the British Crime Survey (BCS) is a much more accurate gauge of crime than police recorded crime (ie the figures used on www.ukcrimestats.com).
“They’re free to think that, of course,” explained Lewis, “but I’m always a bit surprised and disappointed to find out that they have no idea how the BCS is calculated. What is it about people who more fervently believe something they don’t actually understand?”
In a brief explanation of the BCS compared to what his own website sets out to achieve, Lewis outlined: “All crime statistics have three components: the victim, the crime and the criminal. What the BCS does is focus on a select group of victims and asks around 50,000 of those victims living in private households about the crimes they have experienced in the last year.”
What Lewis’ organisation does is take the recorded crimes noted by the 43 police forces operational in England and Wales, their category and location and then feed all 500,000 into a database once a month.
“The BCS is about the perception of crime from a victim’s point of view,” asserted Lewis. “This is useful, of course, but a much smaller and less factual sample. What our data does is strictly evidential, unless you think the police service is making up the crimes, their location and category!”
Accountability and transparency
Kevin Savage, director of the Ventutec web development agency which created Crime Finder, commented: “Crime mapping gives the public accountability and transparency of crimes in their area. Allowing developers access to raw data is an important step forward in recognising the need for up-to-date methods of accessing and viewing vital information.”
The www.police.uk website has had more than 420 million hits since its launch earlier this year. The coalition Government introduced the website to make crime, policing and justice more transparent and help people hold their local forces to account.
When an individual inputs their postcode, town, village or street, they gain instant access to street-level crime maps and data as well as details of their local policing team and beat meetings.
The end user is also be able to find out how the police are tackling problems in that specific postcode area, and what they can do to help.
The street-level crime map identifies types of crime including: total crime, burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence and anti-social behaviour.
“By making this data readily available to developers, we are giving people the power to view what crimes are happening on their streets in innovative ways which work for them,” said Nick Herbert, the Home Office minister responsible for policing and criminal justice.
“With this information to hand they can hold their local police force to account and challenge them about how they are tackling crime in their area.”
Speaking of the ‘march of technology’, Herbert continued: “These new apps are great examples of the type of creativity we want to see. Over the coming months we will be looking at how we can make even more information available to members of the public.”
For access to all of the websites mentioned please click on the dedicated links provided at the foot of this page
