Home Office opens up crime information

Datasets made available online as part of drive to provide public data on the internet

Home Office opens up data

The Home Office has published a variety of crime and related data on its web site as part of a drive to open up government information.

The move is a response to recommendations in the government-commissioned Power of Information review, which recommended putting more civil service information online for public consumption.

The web site also has a crime mapping tool that allows users to directly manipulate datasets of crime figures, and if required, allows results to be viewed in the form of charts or tables. Data can be analysed down to local authority level and offence groups.

The site also has police performance and measurement data as well as data on anti-social behaviour orders and domestic violence.

The final Power of Information report released earlier this year said: "Public information should be available at marginal cost, which in practice means for free online."

Last month Gordon Brown recruited web pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee to help open up state information online.