Herbert discusses the thinking behind the scheme in the video below, but, as we reported yesterday, the site’s launch was marred by crashing, and by complaints that streets were labelled wrongly or had had crimes attributed to them which had occurred elsewhere.
According to the Daily Telegraph, “Bolnore Road in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, showed abnormally high levels of anti-social behaviour until it emerged that the figures related to hoax calls which were recorded at Sussex Police HQ, which is on the road, because there was no alternative location”.
Mistaken identity
There was also controversy over Surrey Street in Portsmouth, Hampshire, which the site claimed had seen 136 incidences of crime, including burglary, violence and anti-social behaviour, in December. Police later admitted that the street’s postcode was used to record incidences of retail crime in a nearby commercial centre and crime from local bars and clubs.
London’s Metropolitan Police was the force with the highest number of recorded crimes in December, followed by Greater Manchester and West Midlands.
The site buckled under the pressure of millions of views yesterday, at a rate of 75,000 a minute, according to Herbert.
