This web application is based on official UK crime data published by the Home Office. It is released under the Open Government Licence. The app loads the crime data for a given UK location and shows the type of crimes, along with the levels of crime over the last twelve months. Selecting a type of crime from the legend will display the location of all reported incidents of that type over the last year.

It is also possible to view the crimes in the area for a specific month by clicking on the calendar bar chart. Clicking the location hotspot will also provide a list of the crimes for that location for that specific time period.

The Police API allows the retrieval of information about neighbourhood areas in all 43 English and Welsh police forces. All forces are required to keep this data accurate and up to date, so the API provides a rich and definitive data source for crime statistics at both street and neighourhood level.

The app works by querying the Police API based on the location chosen. It first determines the latest available date and then retrieves the last twelve months worth of data. (Note that in urban areas this can take a while). The most recent data is collate and the hot spots are then plotted on the map. An internal model is created of the figures to allow them to be accessed by location, or by date, or by type. Google Maps and D3.js are used to display the data.

A big thank you to My Society for providing a postcode lookup service. This enables the app to display the correct location on the map.

Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice. Stephen Few