Call for more information to be shown along side street-by-street statistics

Crime map websites should show sentences according to London Assembly Member Tony Arbour but Mayor of London Boris Johnson disagrees.

Johnson said that the Met Police would not consider adopting this approach until trials to test both the usefulness and the public reaction to the more expansive information were complete.

In response, Mr Arbour, who is also Metropolitan Police Authority member, said: “I do not think that there should be any hesitation in putting local sentencing results online. We don’t need proof of its ‘usefulness’ because it’s very clear people want and should know this kind of information."

He continued: "I approve of the new crime map websites, however its all very well discovering five cases of robbery on your road, but if you don’t know if that robber or gang was ever convicted you are really only getting half the story.

“While the Mayor can only deal with policing, the fact remains that levels of public confidence in police are inherently wedded to decisions taken by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The public only gets to see the police so that’s who they blame if they see the same thug on the street about whom they complained the week before."

Arbour believes that the 'faceless' CPS and their decisions remain remote and that publishing sentences is one way to deal with the issue.

“Londoners have a right to know what’s going on in the CPS - especially since, in London, defendants are more likely to escape trial because of prosecution blunders than they are to be cleared by a jury."

The recently launched crime mapping website enables residents to spot street-by-street crime statistics. A simple postcode search throws up the number and type of crime in your postcode area and within the local neighbourhood wards.

Figures are categorised by the type of offence including burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence and anti-social behaviour and are to be updated monthly.

March 27, 2011