Last week police.uk launched a map of every single crime recorded in December last year in England and Wales. The phenomenal reaction to the launch caused the crashing of the website. With a resolution down to the street level everyone is now able to track the safety of their neighbourhood. Updated monthly the maps can be filtered according to different sorts of crimes and even Anti-social behaviour incidents are mapped. I wonder what impact this has on for example real estate prices or neighbourhood watching. If you're looking for a flat wouldn't you check the crime map before? Policing Minister Nick Herbert said the Government was determined to provide as much detailed information as possible. "We can't sweep crime under the carpet," he said. "We have to tell the truth about crime and where it is happening and give the information and the power to the public." Apart from informing the public, access to this data might also fuel fear and the suspicion and mistrust to your neighbours. It even might be possible to identify crime victims due to it's accuracy.
In response to the crash of the website the guardian launched their own map with the feature of comparing different areas and crimes .
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