onionbagblog

And so following the current trend of *every* #hyperlocal blog throughout the land (hellooo m’South London colleagues!) here’s the crime map for, um, Wivenhoe [slow loading site alert...]

As expected, the data presented for our little patch by the police’s new crime mapping site is incredibly low. It’s nothing that we didn’t already know, but it makes for reassuring reading, all the same.

For the record, here’s the tally count of recorded crime that took place in Wivenhoe during December 2010:

I would suggest that parking is more of an issue in Wivenhoe right now. Although obviously not a crime per se, and with the impact on human life minor compared to some of the other categories, the lack of space to park within the town is taking up more police time than areas such as violent crime.

Much of the media coverage today around the launch of the police-mapping site has been on the merits of putting such data online. The cynics say that it presents no real value, as it only represents recorded crime.

This is a fair point, and emphasises the need to report any crime, no matter how small. Without the knowledge of where a crime is taking place, the police can’t plan where to put their resources.

This is particularly pertinent in Wivenhoe right now as we prepare to say farewell to the town’s police station, ahead of a move for our fine officers up towards the fire station.

Where police.uk really works however is as a central resource in which to pass on #hyperlocal policing information. It may seem like basic details, but providing a pen pic of our officers, along with an email address, is a great use of local online information.

Likewise the listing of the upcoming mobile police stations around Wivenhoe is useful to have online.

There’s no mention of the next Neighbourhood Action Panel (Tuesday 24th, 7pm, Town Council office) or the Community Safety Meeting taking place on Thursday 24th, once again, 7pm at the same venue.

But that’s perhaps for some future tweaking and local co-operation. The site has only been live for less than twenty-four hours and is still rather *ahem* clunky.

Don’t have nightmares…