The police.uk crime map shows recorded crime and anti-social behaviour near any postcode in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You enter a postcode, pick your area, and see a map of approximate crime locations plus a summary of the most commonly reported crimes. It’s free and comes from police forces’ own data, but locations are deliberately approximate and some data is missing, so it’s best used to spot patterns rather than judge a single street.
Here’s how to use it step by step, how to read what you see, and the limitations worth knowing before you draw conclusions.
What the police.uk crime map covers
- Who supplies the data: according to data.police.uk, crime and anti-social behaviour data comes from the 43 geographic police forces in England and Wales, the British Transport Police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with court results from the Ministry of Justice.
- How often it updates: monthly. Each upload is a snapshot of what forces held at the end of that month.
- What it doesn’t cover: Scotland. Police Scotland doesn’t supply data, so for Scottish locations only British Transport Police crime appears, which data.police.uk warns can make crime look much lower than it really is.
How to use the police.uk crime map, step by step
Step 1: Go to police.uk and search your postcode
Go to the official site at police.uk and use the search box to look up your local area. You can enter a full postcode for the most precise result.
Step 2: Pick the right area
If more than one result appears, choose the street or neighbourhood you want. You’ll be taken to the page for that neighbourhood, which also shows your local policing team and how to contact them.
Step 3: Open the crime map
On the neighbourhood page, look for the section on crime. Neighbourhood pages on police force websites group this under “Crimes and priorities”, with tabs for “Top reported crimes in this area”, “Crime map” and “Our priorities”. Select the crime map.
Step 4: Explore the map
The map shows crime as hotspots. Zoom in and move around to see your own streets and the surrounding area. Keep in mind that, in the map’s own words, “the hotspots give only a loose idea of where crimes happened”.
Step 5: Check the top reported crimes
The “Top reported crimes in this area” tab lists the most common categories for a recent month with a count for each. It’s a quick way to see whether, say, burglary or vehicle crime is a local issue.
Step 6: Read “About this crime map”
Underneath the map there’s a short note, including how many incidents in the force area couldn’t be mapped to a location and so don’t appear at all. It’s worth reading every time.
Understanding the crime categories
Crimes are grouped into broad categories. Police.uk lists them as:
| Category | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Anti-social behaviour | Personal, environmental and nuisance anti-social behaviour |
| Bicycle theft | Theft of a bicycle |
| Burglary | Entering a building with the intention of stealing |
| Criminal damage and arson | Damage to property, including fires started deliberately |
| Drugs | Possession, supply and production |
| Other theft | Includes theft by an employee, blackmail and making off without payment |
| Possession of weapons | Weapons offences |
| Public order | Offences that cause fear, alarm or distress |
| Robbery | Using force or the threat of force to steal |
| Shoplifting | Theft from shops |
| Theft from the person | Theft from a person without force or the threat of force |
| Vehicle crime | Crime involving vehicles |
| Violence and sexual offences | A wide range, from common assault to the most serious offences |
| Other crime | Includes forgery, perjury and miscellaneous offences |
These categories are broad. Police.uk points out that the violent crime category covers everything from common assault to murder, so a high number doesn’t tell you how serious the incidents were.
How to read the map properly
Locations are approximate on purpose
To protect victims’ privacy, crimes aren’t shown at their exact address. data.police.uk explains that each crime is moved to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, and each point must cover at least eight postal addresses or none at all. That’s why you often see clusters on a street centre, a park or a car park. A dot outside a house doesn’t mean the crime happened there.
Not every crime appears
Police.uk says some incidents are left off the map, such as crimes where the location isn’t known, or where anonymising would place them more than 20km from where they happened. Crimes on moving trains are attributed to the end destination of the journey.
Outcomes are incomplete
Where available, the site shows what happened next, such as whether a case went to court. But outcomes for anti-social behaviour aren’t available, some court outcomes can’t yet be matched, and only the most punitive court outcome is shown. data.police.uk says the success rate for matching crimes to court results ranges from 19% to 97% depending on the area.
Some forces have gaps
Forces sometimes miss a month or refresh earlier data, and these are logged on the data.police.uk changelog. At the time of writing (October 2026), the changelog lists Greater Manchester Police as having no crime, outcome or stop and search data currently available, so the map won’t give a useful picture for Manchester, Salford and the rest of Greater Manchester. See the Greater Manchester section below for the older records you can still use.
Compare like with like
A busy town centre with shops, pubs and a station will almost always show more crime than a quiet residential street, simply because more people pass through. Compare similar areas over several months rather than reacting to a single month.
Greater Manchester: older records only
If you live in Greater Manchester, the police.uk street map can’t help you at the moment. The data.police.uk changelog records Greater Manchester Police crime data as “not provided” for every month from March 2025 to August 2026, and its known-issues list says no GMP crime, outcome or stop and search data is currently available. GMP has said its records management system has been unable to align with the national police.uk data return.
Until that changes, these are the best sources, and they are older records, so treat them as a guide rather than today’s picture:
- Force-wide totals (older): ONS police recorded crime figures show Greater Manchester Police recorded 319,131 crimes in the year ending March 2025, down 7% from 342,159 the year before (ONS Police Force Area data tables). These are force-wide figures, not street level, and they are the latest full-year GMP totals we could find. Note that the ONS has since excluded GMP from some trend comparisons because of the force’s data supply problems.
- GMP’s own figures: the GMP Stats and data page publishes some crime statistics and a neighbourhood crime section directly.
- Your neighbourhood team: your local GMP neighbourhood team page and Neighbourhood Watch alerts are often the quickest way to hear about burglaries near you.
Whatever the figures say, the basics don’t change: an anti-snap cylinder on every external door and a physical barrier on the back door at night protect you whether or not your area’s data is published.
Other ways to check crime near you
- Download the data: data.police.uk offers the raw data for analysis, and its street-level crime API returns crimes within a one-mile radius of a point or a custom area.
- Your force’s website: many forces show the same neighbourhood crime map, local priorities and team contacts on their own sites.
- Your neighbourhood policing team: they can tell you about local issues and give crime prevention advice. Many run local meetings.
- Neighbourhood Watch: a good way to hear what’s happening on your street.
To report a crime, call 999 in an emergency or 101 if it’s not urgent, or report online through your force’s website. To report information anonymously, contact Crimestoppers.
Turning what you find into action
If the map shows burglary is a local issue, it’s a prompt to review your own home rather than a reason to panic. Our guide on how to secure your home covers the essentials, and our look at the top weak points of uPVC doors shows where to start on the door itself.
For a single uPVC front or back door, the Door Jammer – HOLDOOR hooks under the inside handle and braces the door against the floor, so it stays shut even if the lock is snapped, bumped or picked. It’s Sold Secure Bronze rated and Secured by Design accredited (Police Preferred Specification), needs no drilling or tools, and fits most UK single-handle uPVC doors. It’s used from inside when someone is home, and isn’t for sliding, French, double or patio doors.
In a fire: find the key, lift the Door Jammer off (or unlock and remove the Door Handle Guard), unlock the door and leave the building.
Frequently asked questions
Is the police.uk crime map accurate?
It’s official police data, but locations are deliberately approximate and some crimes can’t be mapped. It’s reliable for patterns across an area, not for the exact location of a single crime.
How often is the crime map updated?
Monthly. Each month’s data is a snapshot, and forces sometimes refresh earlier months or miss a month.
Why can’t I see crime data for Greater Manchester?
At the time of writing (October 2026), the data.police.uk changelog says no Greater Manchester Police crime data is currently available; GMP data has been missing since March 2025. Use the older ONS force-wide figures and GMP’s own Stats and data page instead, and check the changelog for updates.
Does it cover Scotland?
No. Only British Transport Police data appears for Scottish locations, so crime will look much lower than it really is.
Can I see crime on my exact street?
You can zoom to your street, but crimes are placed on anonymous map points that each cover at least eight addresses, so you can’t tell which property was involved.
Next steps
- Search your postcode on police.uk and open the crime map.
- Check the top reported crimes and the “About this crime map” note.
- Look at the data.police.uk changelog for any gaps in your force’s data.
- If burglary is a local concern, review your doors and consider the Door Jammer – HOLDOOR for your uPVC door.
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