CrimeMapsUK started as a way to read published police records from data.police.uk on maps and dashboards. The site now does more with those records, and it shows a few other official open datasets beside them. This article lists what has been added. Each feature has its own short article on the articles page.
Crime per 1,000 residents
Postcode district, postcode sector, and police force area pages now show published street-crime records per 1,000 residents. The residents come from Census 2021, counted for the same postcodes the records are assigned to. The rate counts residents only, so it reads high where many people visit, such as city centres. When the figures cannot support a fair rate, the page shows none and says why. See how rates are built.
Postcode sector pages
A postcode sector is the district plus the first digit of the second half of a
postcode, like E8 1. District pages list their sectors, and each listed sector
has a page with the same published figures for a smaller area. A sector mostly
policed by a force that publishes no street-level crime, such as Greater
Manchester Police, gets a short note instead and is not listed. Start from
crime by postcode district.
Rankings by published rate
The crime rate rankings list the postcode districts with the highest and lowest published rates, with the records and residents beside every rate. Each police force in England and Wales has its own ranking, which also ranks its sectors. A ranking orders published rates. It does not say where is safe.
Deprivation where residents live
District and sector pages show how an area’s residents spread across the deciles of the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 or the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025. The mix describes where residents live. It is not a measure of crime.
Area data and the Move report
District pages have an area section with house prices, schools, flood risk, and broadband from official open datasets. The Move report (£29.99, England only) is the 5-year neighbourhood report with the same four datasets around its postcode. The 12-month report is free, and the 5-year report costs £19.99. See the neighbourhood reports page.
Neighbourhood reports also have a page called “The wider area”. It gives the published rates of the postcode’s sector and district, and the district’s deprivation mix, wherever the site publishes them.
Free monthly alerts
Area alerts send one email a month about one postcode district, after you confirm your address. Each email gives the month’s published total, how it compares with earlier months, and the top three categories.
For business
The business page describes a data API, a free widget for district pages, and packs of neighbourhood reports. District figures from the API are free without a key, so apps and AI assistants can quote them with a link back to the district page.
What has not changed
Every crime figure still comes from published police records. We publish no safety scores and no predictions. Police locations stay approximate, so maps group records into areas and never show incident pins. The methodology page sets out each method and its limits.