Crime mapping site lost in translation

A HIGH-PROFILE website mapping the nation’s crime hotspots has faced a storm of criticism just hours after it was launched.

The Home Office site, unveiled yesterday, named the cul-de-sacs Matthew Close, Abbeyhills, and Arndale Rise, Watersheddings, among the worst streets in Britain for burglary.

But Oldham’s police chief has now said that there was only only one burglary in each street last year.

Greater Manchester Police initially welcomed the website which it said would show how it was cutting crime.

But forces across there country were soon forced to point out inaccuracies on the £300,000 www.police.uk site.

And to add to the chaos it also crashed after receiving five million hits at a rate of 75,000 a minute.

Chief Superintendent Tim Forber, Divisional Commander for police in Oldham, said: “The crime figures shown on the crime mapping website suggest that Matthew Close and Arndale Rise in Oldham are two of the worst streets in Britain for burglary.

“In reality, there was only one burglary recorded in Matthew Close and one in Arndale Rise during the whole of 2010 and any suggestion of either area being a hotspot are somewhat wide of the mark.

“The figures shown on the crime mapping website for both Matthew Close and Arndale Rise also take into account incidents recorded in other near-by streets.”

Davies Street, Chadderton, was also named as the third worst place in the country for burglary while Lord Street, Oldham, was the eighth worst for violence.