Every police force in the country will publish interactive crime maps on their web sites as part of a new government plan to keep the public informed of the safety of their local environs, the home secretary has announced.

By the end of the year, every police force will publish maps online which show where and when crime has happened and allow the public to make comparisons with other areas.

"By rolling out up-to-date, interactive crime maps we can better inform people about crime problems in their area and enable them to have much more of a say in what their local police focus on," said home secretary Jacqui Smith.

West Midlands and West Yorkshire police have both trialled the system succesfully.

"This fulfils the key responsibility to give information to communities so that they can see the real level of crime and help the police to address it," said Sir Norman Bettison, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead on policing futures.

The maps were recommended by the Policing Green Paper earlier this month.