WIREDGOV

The public are now able to compare crime, quality of service, cost and workforce data through police.uk.

“Crime and Policing Comparator” is HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC) online tool that brings together data from all 43 police forces across England and Wales for the past three years. It enables the public to explore the raw data in one place or interactively draw graphs of their choice.

Crime and Policing Comparator supports the Government’s agenda to increase democratic accountability through transparency.

As well as visiting police.uk, the Crime and Policing Comparator can be accessed through www.hmic.gov.uk.

Sir Denis O’Connor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary said;

“Part of our role at HMIC is to provide the public with reliable information about the police. That is why we have produced this easy to use online tool, enabling people to see how their force compares. To ensure the public get a complete picture of policing, HMIC continues to inspect forces and publish professional judgements in our reports.”

These data have been subject to data quality checks. In many cases they reach the standard necessary for classification as a National Statistic and where this is this the case it has been indicated on the website. Alongside the data we are also publishing information to help the public avoid drawing inappropriate conclusions arising from data limitations.

Notes to Editors:

1.Police.uk, managed by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), gives street-level crime data for all police forces across England and Wales alongside local policing information. The categories of crime available on the site are today being expanded, with force-level HMIC data also available for the first time.

2.Crime and Policing Comparator is accessible through police.uk (as well as www.hmic.gov.uk) as police.uk is the government’s home for police related data.

3.From www.police.uk, enter your postcode. Your local policing page will open up and this will now include a HMIC box showing crime trends over time. This box contains a link to Crime and Policing Comparator.

4.Crime and Policing Comparator provides a raw data file readable by your spreadsheet programme (not provided by HMIC) and a tool that enables you to draw graphs interactively on the website (no spreadsheet or other software required):

• There are four graphs accessible by scrolling down the page or from the links at the top of the page. The four graphs cover crime, service quality, cost and workforce.
• Above each graph are three drop down menus. In the case of the crime graph (as an example) you can choose the crime type you are interested in, the force you are interested in and whether you want to compare with other forces or change over time.
• Once you have made your three drop-down selections, press “draw chart”.
• The chart will be drawn for you. You can hover your mouse over the chart to see the actual data figures.

5.Previously published data in the Crime and Policing Comparator includes; Recorded Crime data, Sanction Detection Data, ASB Incident data and ASB perceptions data.

6.Data being published for the first time includes; Victim Satisfaction survey data (previously only available to practitioners as management information) and Police Objective Analysis (POA) Cost and workforce data.

7.Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) is an independent inspectorate, inspecting policing in the public interest, and rigorously examines the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces and authorities to tackle crime and terrorism, improve criminal justice and raise confidence. HMIC inspects and regulates all 43 police forces in England and Wales together with other major policing bodies such as the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the British Transport Police and HMRC.

8.For further information, or to request an interview, HMIC’s press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:30pm Monday – Friday on 0203 513 0600.

9.HMIC’s out of hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217 729.