John Baron MP urges local residents to track crime outcomes on Police.uk

MP welcomes Police initiative

John Baron MP has welcomed a new online tool which for the first time means local people can track what happened after a crime was committed in their neighbourhood.

In the next stage of development of the groundbreaking website Police.uk, local residents will not only be able to access street level crime data but also see what action the local police have taken as a result and whether offenders went to court.

John said:

“Local papers are good at reporting crime. But this website will help keep residents informed as to what is being done about it. Was someone arrested for the crime? Did it go to court? This new tool puts that information at our fingertips.”

Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice Nick Herbert MP said:

“The Police.uk site is helping to revolutionise the way the police and the wider criminal justice system are held to account by making this information available at the touch of a button.”

The additions to the site come after the public showed a huge appetite for more information on every aspect of crime in their area, with more than 47 million visits on Police.uk since it launched in January 2011.

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Notes to Editors

1.   The work to provide justice outcomes on Police.uk has been taken forward by the Home Office, National Policing Improvement Agency, the Ministry of Justice and police forces across England and Wales.

2.   The UK government has already made more open datasets available than any other government in the world. This open data is making public services such as justice, transport, health and education more transparent and accountable. It is also driving economic growth as it used to create useful applications.

3.   The government will publish further open data commitments and set out a robust framework to strengthen access to data shortly.

4.   The UK is now co-chair of the international Open Government Partnership, helping to drive openness and prosperity globally.

1. Police.uk has already undergone a series of innovative updates, providing the public with more criminal justice information than ever before. This includes mapping crimes at points of interest including supermarkets and nightclubs, introducing new crime categories such as shoplifting, and increasing accuracy by placing crimes to within eight postcodes instead of 12.