Street-level crime records on CrimeMapsUK include a published outcome where one is available. That field is easy to misread. This article explains what the official sources say it is — and what it is not.

What the published field is

On data.police.uk, street crime files include a Last outcome category. The site describes it as:

A reference to whichever of the outcomes associated with the crime occurred most recently.

In other words, it is the latest status update linked to that recorded crime in the published dataset. It is not a full case file, and it is not guaranteed for every crime. The data.police.uk street-crime API notes that the outcome element “may not be present for all crimes”.

data.police.uk also describes the wider ASB, crime and outcomes collection as including “subsequent police and court outcomes associated with the crime”. So some labels reflect police disposals; others reflect later justice updates where those have been matched and published.

Why “charged” is not the same as “convicted”

The Home Office Outcomes Framework is the official set of investigative outcome types used in England and Wales crime statistics. Its technical annex is explicit that a charge is recorded whether or not the case later succeeds in court:

Outcome 1: Charge and/or Summons: A person has been charged or summonsed for the crime (irrespective of any subsequent acquittal at Court).

Source: Crime outcomes in England and Wales: technical annex (GOV.UK).

So a published label such as “Suspect charged” means the police/CPS process reached a charge or summons for that recorded crime. It does not mean the person was found guilty.

Selected official outcome definitions

The same Home Office annex defines the numbered outcome types. A few that help interpret common street-level labels:

Outcome 3: Caution - adults: An adult offender has been cautioned by the police.

Outcome 8: Community Resolution: A Community Resolution (with or without formal Restorative Justice) has been applied in accordance with College of Policing guidance.

Outcome 10: Not in public interest (Police) (from April 2014): Formal action against the offender is not in the public interest (Police decision).

Outcome 15: Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports action) (from April 2014): Evidential difficulties named suspect identified - the crime is confirmed and the victim supports police action but evidential difficulties prevent further action.

Outcome 18: Investigation complete - no suspect identified (from April 2014): The crime has been investigated as far as reasonably possible - case closed pending further investigative opportunities becoming available.

The street-level dataset often uses shorter public labels (for example, “Investigation complete; no suspect identified”, “Unable to prosecute suspect”, “Local resolution”, “Suspect charged”). Those are the strings CrimeMapsUK ingests. They correspond to the Outcomes Framework, but the published wording is not always identical to the numbered Home Office definitions above.

How CrimeMapsUK groups outcomes on the maps

The hex maps do not show every official label separately. For street crime they group published outcome_status values into three summary buckets:

That grouping is a CrimeMapsUK presentation choice for the map panel. It is not an official Home Office category. The raw published label remains the source field.

For stop and search, the map uses a different grouping based on the published search outcome: find or arrest, other action taken, and nothing found / no further action. See What is a stop and search record.

What to keep in mind

Further reading