Interpreting the figures
Our Police.uk-based pages use published police records of crime and anti-social behaviour. These reflect recorded incidents supplied for publication, rather than every incident that may have happened. Police.uk provides monthly data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; these records do not provide equivalent coverage of Scotland.
A total describes the records within the selected area and months. It is not a prediction of your personal risk. Category names describe groups of records; they are not safety ratings. Unless a measure explicitly says otherwise, a raw count is not adjusted for population, visitors or the time people spend in an area.
Compare the same months and check both boundaries first. A busy shopping centre and a residential borough can differ in size, activity and footfall. A larger total alone does not establish that one is less safe. Use the figures alongside local knowledge and a visit at the times relevant to you.
Locations and boundaries
Police.uk anonymises incident locations. Markers represent approximate published positions, not exact addresses. Several records can share a point; this does not identify a particular home, shop, resident or business as being involved.
Read the scope note on the area page and inspect its outline. A town-centre page covers its stated centre footprint, while a borough page covers its stated administrative boundary. Neither should be assumed to cover every place sharing a postal name. Planning boundaries may be indicative; the page explains their limitations.
Full-boundary area pages and their Plus reports retain the complete mapped polygon, including separate parts and holes. They do not replace it with a one-mile circle. Incident inclusion is based on the published approximate positions, which limits how precisely figures can describe activity near a boundary.
Dates and coverage
Publication follows the recorded month, so the figures are not a live feed. Area pages normally open on a six-month period. Check the displayed dates rather than assuming the period ends this month. Later source updates can revise records.
Read any coverage warning before interpreting a total or trend. Missing or unavailable records do not mean zero incidents. Where coverage is insufficient, affected figures may be withheld. A map that has not loaded is also not evidence that an area has no recorded crime.
Using the map and Plus report
Start with the boundary and dates, then use the available category and date filters to explore the records. Zooming or moving the map changes your view; it does not turn the visible screen into a new area boundary. Check filter labels before comparing a filtered view with an overall total.
The public area guide explains the place, scope and sources. Plus provides detailed report modules such as monthly patterns, category breakdowns, repeated approximate locations and recorded outcomes, where usable data is available. Full-boundary reports use the same area and selected dates as their map and summary.
Outcomes describe the status supplied in the records and may be updated after the incident month. A missing outcome does not establish that a case remains unresolved. Outcome counts should not be read as conviction rates. The report describes the available records; it does not prove causes or guarantee personal safety.
Sources and further help
For the underlying data methods, read Police.uk’s data documentation, including its location anonymisation explanation. Boundary and local-context sources are linked on each area page.
Visit our FAQ for other questions, or search for an area.