Crime maps become a reality 3

Matthew Sinclair Better Government

Great news. London residents can now get crime maps providing information on crime rates in their local areas from a Metropolitan Police website. This is a huge step forward in giving ordinary people the information they need to hold the police to account.

This service needs to be rolled out across the country and ordinary people should be given the power to hold the police to account through electing local police chiefs. In London the Mayor needs to be given the power to hire and fire the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Direct democratic control will mean that local people can hold the police to account for their performance in combatting crime, this will produce better results than bureaucrats and politicians trying to enforce distorting targets.

Matthew Sinclair

Matthew is Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, author of Let Them Eat Carbon and editor of How to Cut Public Spending (and still win an election)

Follow @mjhsinclair

Hardeep_Singh

Indeed and they’ll manipulated by central and local government like any form of statistic presented to the public. Computers are more easy to ‘change’ on the fly than other form of media communication and these figures will appear one way for residents on one side of the town i.e. the trouble is on the opposite side and similiarly for the folks living on the other side.
You’ll have armed robbery incidents deleted because of some special reporting the police/government have devised but will map me for my overdue library book fines. I’m off to Brazil before they catch me ….
Graeme Pirie

What a load of rubbish. Put bobbies out on the street free from PC nonsense is all that’s needed – not even more of them sitting on their bums sticking pins on internet maps.
Hardeep_Singh

Indeed and they’ll manipulated by central and local government like any form of statistic presented to the public. Computers are more easy to ‘change’ on the fly than other form of media communication and these figures will appear one way for residents on one side of the town i.e. the trouble is on the opposite side and similiarly for the folks living on the other side.
You’ll have armed robbery incidents deleted because of some special reporting the police/government have devised but will map me for my overdue library book fines. I’m off to Brazil before they catch me ….