Crime mapping

Report: 14
Date: 5 February 2009
By: T/Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the Crime Mapping website within the MPS. It provides details of public feedback, Safer Neighbourhood Team usage and the timescales for the continuing upgrades to the website.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the progress of the MPS Crime Mapping site.

B. Supporting information

Crime Mapping Phase One

1. A previous paper was submitted to the MPA at the Co-ordination and Policing Committee on the 4 September 2008. The Crime Mapping project was introduced to deliver the Mayoral Priority and is an example of how the MPA and various business groups can pull together to deliver some exceptional pro0ducts over a short period. This update paper reflects where the project is to date and sets future direction.

2. In the brief period from the initial inception in May 2008 to the launch in September 2008, the MPS moved quickly to deliver an effective and well-received product. This product is now being used to enhance public engagement and to assist constructive debate with local police. Currently, the public can view five separate crime types: Robbery Personal, Robbery Commercial, Burglary Residential, Theft of Motor Vehicle and Theft from Motor Vehicle.

3. Throughout the project the MPS has built a positive reputation with the Information Commissioner’s Office by developing a robust model for decision making; ensuring principles of law are upheld and information released is in a useful open system.

4. The MPS is part of the national Crime Mapping Stakeholders Assurance Group, chaired by Deputy Chief Constable Neil Rhodes. The group discusses the Home Secretary’s requirement for an Internet based Crime Mapping facility for every police service by the 31 December 2008. Tania Eagle, the Project Policy Officer of the Association of Police Authorities (APA) was a member of the group and is also attending the new ‘Provision of Information Strategy Group’ chaired by Steve Mortimore the Director of Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

5. The MPS is at an advanced stage in comparison to the majority of other police services, having a number of offences already displayed to a smaller geographic area than the national work, however the national working party have also included Violence Against The Person (VAP) in their list of crime types. The MPS will not consider including VAP or the new category of Most Serious Violence (MSV) without thorough consultation with the Information Commissioner and the public, (See para. 1 & 2 within the Race and Equality Impact section). This consultation and additional consideration is required because the most serious offences occur in low numbers and if mapped might lead to identification or re-traumatisation of the victim. In addition some of the offences included within VAP such as harassment and common assault occur in relatively high numbers causing the VAP figures to be high which might impact negatively and unnecessarily on confidence in policing.

6. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) codes of practice and the Policing green paper also require additional information to be available via the Crime Mapping website including; access to partner websites; details of ward teams; ward policing priorities and activities undertaken by the team to deal with ward priorities. The new system addresses all of these needs and more through a number of mechanisms linked to the crime map page. These are being improved and developed, for instance the Safer Neighbourhood Team corporate template has been produced to ensure information can be accessed easily either on the SNT webpage or via a link to the borough home page. We are also working with the London Fire Brigade and Local Authorities to allow their data to be linked via the Crime Mapping website.

User feedback

7. The site deals on average with between 1,000 and 1,300 requests per day, peaking on days of significant news to around 4,500. This has been achieved by considerable and positive cross business group working. Additional funding was made available to ensure that the system did not fail due to the high level of interest in the site. The MPS are now confident that the system is robust and that the backup system contract will not need to be renewed in September 2009.

8. Two hundred and seventy users have provided feedback about the site. 86% of users found the site to be Easy or Very easy to use, 69% found the site to be Helpful or Very Helpful and 25% found the site to not be useful. Of these users, 75% were looking at the maps for personal interest and 14% for professional research.

Crime recording levels

9. There has been a very small increase in the number of offences reported between September and October this year as compared to last (321 offences); however it would be impossible to say that this is due to the introduction of Crime Mapping.

10. The public can now access a number of links from the Crime Mapping website to websites dealing with ‘Crime Prevention’ and ‘Reporting a Crime On-Line’. In the financial year 2007/8 - 20,000 crimes were reported on-line, 29,000 crimes have already been reported on-line this financial year to date, (April 2008 to December 2008).

MPS and Safer Neighbourhood Team usage

11. Safer Neighbourhood Teams on all 32 boroughs have been made aware of the Crime Mapping website, Bexley borough were keen to use the system straight away at Safer Neighbourhood Panel, (SNP) meetings and to inform their Councillor’s about crime levels on the various wards.

12. The Crime Maps are designed to assist ward panels in making their decisions on priority setting. On one sub-ward, burglary was chosen as a short-term priority as a result of the crime maps, (five offences in August 2008). The panel were able to observe the results the following month when there were no burglaries on that sub-ward.

13. The Crime Maps have also been shown at various borough forums and have proved extremely popular, allowing wards on the borough to be viewed comparatively.

Phase Two

14. Crime Mapping was accessible across all of the MPS from the 3 September 2008. Phase two and three consist of updates to the existing site and the provision of additional categories.

15. Total Notifiable Offences were added on 31 December 2008. The category will be available as an aggregate figure, not as separate offence types and will be added to the current Tier 2 Serious Acquisitive Crime offences already displayed.

Phase Three

16. Violence Against the Person and Most Serious Violence are being considered as alternatives for phase three, which will be completed by 31 March 2009. There are several issues to be considered in this decision including the wide number of crimes types involved, the relevance to the public, the potential sensitivity of victims, the bespoke consultation required to identify the best way forward and the need for informed consideration of the appropriateness of inclusion. The Information Commissioner has expressed concern about the proposal to display such sensitive crimes and has advised consultation with victims first. This consultation and consideration has already been planned and will take place between January and March 2009.

17. Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) Reported to Police will also be included as an aggregate figure from 31 March 2009. Anti Social Behaviour incidents are recorded on the Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system and not via Crime Reports and so the method of plotting the incidents on the system is being carefully planned to avoid confusion.

18. All Boroughs will have the SNT corporate webpage in place by the 31 March 2009. Once completed this will allow the public to access similar levels of information about SNTs and their priorities wherever they are in London.

Benefits to the service

19. Crime Mapping is still in its infancy and the design of evaluation of the benefits both to the public and the service are on-going. Currently we already have feedback from site users, an on-line survey and communication with the Key Individual Networks (KINs).

20. By accessing the Crime Mapping site, the public are already better informed about crime in their local area. With the rollout of the new corporate Safer Neighbourhoods Team webpage, the public will be able to see what their teams are doing about the priorities on their ward. It is intended to develop the on-line survey in order to be able to capture public opinion about the site and MPS performance.

21. The benefits provided by Crime Mapping are hard to measure but the Public Attitude Survey, (PAS) figure for Confidence in Local Policing continues to rise. Between April and June 2008, Confidence in Local Policing rose from 56% to 62%. Between July and September 2008, Confidence in Local Policing continued to rise, resulting in a figure of 68%.

22. Three new questions have been included in the PAS dealing specifically with Crime Mapping and whether the maps influence the public’s view on crime in their area. The results will be available from March 2009.

23. Crime Mapping is designed to encourage and enable citizens to actively contribute to making their neighbourhood safer. Continued development of the on-line survey and monitoring of PAS results should allow the benefits of Crime Mapping to be measured.

24. There does not appear to have been a reduction in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, in fact 2008 figures are higher than those of 2007, but these requests cover all areas of MPS business.

C. Race and equality impact

1. A comprehensive Equalities Impact Assessment has been completed and work is ongoing with the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate to minimise any potential adverse impact and to ensure this is used positively. There has been a focus on accessibility to ensure that the system encourages usage by everybody – this includes release of data to the same level in formats other than via a map. Many of these improvements are now in place but some are still subject to development.

2. The Strategic Research and Analysis Unit (SRAU) have completed bespoke questionnaires which are to be used to enable consultation with victims of the various crime types displayed. This is a result of a request from the Information Commissioner who raised concerns about the mapping exercise intruding on the privacy of crime victims. Currently victims of the first five crime types are being surveyed. A variety of methods are being used to gain their views. Some of the crime types are complex and issues around consulting with victims are particularly sensitive. Results from the first round of surveys will be available early in 2009.

D. Financial implications

• Phase One: (Aug – Sept 2008) cost incurred £210,000 - primarily contractors from ‘Cable and Wireless’ and WGT, including £134,000 for AKAMI facility for calls to be ‘held’ at high use times, protecting the reputation of the MPS;
• Phase Two: (Oct – Dec 2008), is expected to cost £20,000, again for the work of specialist contractors from Cable and Wireless; and
• Phase Three: (Jan – Mar 2008), is estimated at £70,000 to complete and fine tune the site - primarily Cable and Wireless contractor’s cost.

The cost for phase one was authorised at the August Management Board. The Department of Information (DoI) are funding phase two and three from the Safer Neighbourhood development fund.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Rod Jarman, MPS

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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