Making a difference with DataCrime and Justice:Will it change policy and do the public care?

Sarah Drummond

police.uk crashed a few month agos

An appetite for crime statistics from the public?

How easy it is to find?

Can the public access this information easily?

Other statistics which can be used to compare, contrast, highlight issues around crime is not always robust

MOJ back to quarterly prison reports

People begin to become producers of data

US have crime reports.This is what we need.

If you want to know what is happening on your street then we need this

Outsiders always do a better job than the institutions

data.gov.uk local paper

What if we had a website where we could ask questions and pull together data shopping lists?

Would this make our opening up of data more effective and relevant?

We’re even further behind in Scotland. Lack of Geographic representation

Knife crime quarterly statsWhat if we had the opportunity to respond to these?

Could data be available on platforms we understand?

People are also skeptical of data figures

48% of people said police.uk maps would increase fear of crime - yougov

“We centre point mark, that’s taking a crime to happen at the midpoint between two junctions”

Police officer “We need to be careful about the release of data, it could put victims (and criminals) at risk”

How safe is your campus?http://campus-safety.findthebest.com/

What other data can we compare and contrast with?

Will this help us understand why crime is committed and alter policy?

Scottish Index of multiple deprivation

“What is more surprising is that economic variables which are

thought to be important such as the unemployment rate, wage rate and the proportion of young people in the population are not significant across all crime types and often have a counter intuitive sign.”

- Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay

Who should be using this data?

Should the state be building or just opening data?

And what can we use this for?

And what data do we trust?

The state?The media?The public?

Do we trust what the public put online?

Does media have potential to set the agenda in terms of what they want to show?

Some kickstarter questions

Who’s role is it to make use of the data?

What else do we need to be opened to make use of what we already have?

Can we make data more accessible to the public?

What can we actually use this data for?

So far I’ve found data to allow the following things for the crime and justice sector;

It makes bodies/orgs more transparent

Improving commercial activities outside of government

Efficiency - there might be less FOI requests

Makes it easier to get involved

Will highlight failures (which isn’t a bad thing)

Push for networked rather than hierarchical

Why are we not doing it?

Spending cuts“We simply don’t have the money/resources to put into this” - police officer

Technology ‘novices’

Risk averse culture

Could lead to negative consequences

This isn’t just about data

This is about changing mindsets

Links to datasets/articles

http://www.madwdata.org.uk/sectors/policing_and_crime

Contact

sarah@mypolice.org