{"id":334,"date":"2012-03-05T10:53:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T10:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/?p=334"},"modified":"2023-06-11T10:07:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T10:07:24","slug":"why-the-january-2012-update-is-coming-to-you-late-next-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/05\/why-the-january-2012-update-is-coming-to-you-late-next-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the January 2012 update is coming to you late next weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear UKC followers and subscribers,<\/p>\n<p>Normally, we aim to release our update within a week after Police.uk release theirs and often much sooner. So we owe you an apology and an explanation on why it&#8217;s later than usual.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, Police.uk aim to release on the 25th of the month but this time, it was released on the morning of the 1st March. There was no explanation or less still, an apology on their behalf. In our view, this near-zero level of interraction with 3rd party developers has a lot to answer for. We have a number of outstanding queries too &#8211; some months old that require attention &#8211; just see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/forum\/\">our Forum page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly &#8211; and we&#8217;ve checked this a lot because we can hardly believe it &#8211; Police.uk have actually changed the underlying historical source data files <a href=\"http:\/\/www.police.uk\/data\/\">located here<\/a> without telling anyone &#8211; all the way back to December 2010 !<\/p>\n<p>We know they&#8217;ve done this because we keep published historical records of all our data for everyone to see. This means that Police.uk has acted in direct contravention to the Home Office Crime Data Guidance which states;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\" href=\"http:\/\/data.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/Crime_Data_Guidance20101207.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/data.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/Crime_Data_Guidance20101207.pdf<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">\u00a0 \u201c<\/span><em style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">When errors are discovered, or files are changed for other reasons, rather than \u2018silently\u2019 changing the file it is recommended to publish a revised and differently named version (together with the original files), e.g. 02_2011_v2, 02_2011_v1.<\/em><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Unlike the Home Office funded website, at UKCrimeStats, we comply with this guidance &#8211; if you&#8217;ll forgive the management-speak, it seems like &#8220;best practice&#8221;. See here\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/Disclaimer\/\">http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/Disclaimer\/<\/a>\u00a0and scroll approx. 80% down the page to the data entry for February 2011 for Cheshire Constabulary and few others, all of which we spotted and asked to be fixed &#8211; all of which took far too long.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">We haven&#8217;t done a full audit but we can confirm that the following data has been changed on www.police.uk\/data ;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">1) The Eastings and Northings of the street csv files &#8211; i.e. the geolocational data of several hundred thousand &#8220;snap points&#8221; (the on or near location where said crimes\/ASB incidents are mapped to \u00a0&#8211; have all been changed. Eastings and Northings are meaured in metres &#8211; prior to a few months ago &#8211; specifically prior to the December 2011 update, these were shown as for example Easting 40892 and Northing 91364 &#8211; this corresponds to Fir Vale Road in Bournemouth. Last month, all the crimes registered to the snap point in that street were changed to 40892.0008 and 91363.99942. So in this case, they have been moved less than a millimetre in one direction.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">What this means is that we now have 2 separate snap points for the same street\u00a0http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/Streets\/50.721836105634\/-1.874109374612\/ and\u00a0http:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/Streets\/50.721827128272\/-1.874123564855\/ .\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Obviously, that&#8217;s not right &#8211; so we&#8217;ve having to fix this and run scripts that literally take days of computing power to join these streets as well as everything else. We are still awaiting an explanation from the authorities.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">2) Neighbourhood crime csv files have also been changed on police.uk\/data &#8211; quite substantially for Kent and Devon and Cornwall &#8211; we suspect there are others too. For these two examples, they have increased significantly the number of recorded crime from;<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<table width=\"533\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"162\" \/>\n<col width=\"70\" \/>\n<col width=\"66\" \/>\n<col width=\"108\" \/>\n<col width=\"127\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"162\" height=\"26\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Police Force<\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"70\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Month<\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"66\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">NHOOD CSVs: Crimes and ASB (with and without location)<\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"108\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">NHOOD CHECK &#8211; 27\/2\/2012<\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"127\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Nhood check difference<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">April-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">13,286<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">13,455<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">169<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">May-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,286<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,902<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">616<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">June-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,154<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,484<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">330<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">July-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14,342<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14,630<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">288<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">August-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14,076<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14,468<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">392<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">September-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">11,964<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,322<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">358<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">October-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,541<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,916<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">375<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Devon and Cornwall Constabulary<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">November-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">11,168<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">11,878<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">710<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Kent Police<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">September-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">13,763<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14008<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">245<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Kent Police<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">October-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14,346<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">14808<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">462<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"18\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Kent Police<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">November-11<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12,460<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">12658<\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">198<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On neighbourhoods too, we are still awaiting an explanation from the authorities. It takes a lot of time to work out what has gone wrong, figure out \u00a0a solution and then process it through. We are now on the processing stage.<\/p>\n<p>As a final word, we think this is an open and shut case of why it is so important to open up the crime data to third parties and developers. The more eyes look at it the better.\u00a0Monopoly oversight and control of crime data is dangerous and prone to errors that will either not be discovered or silently changed from the inside &#8211; as appears to have happened here. \u00a0For open data to succeed, it has to be really ok for governments to say &#8220;Sorry, we&#8217;ve made a mistake&#8221; and publish the correction. After some upset, this openness builds public confidence in the crime data because new pressure is created to prevent a re-occurence. Quite the worst thing of all is to try and change it on the quiet and hope no one will notice.<\/p>\n<p>Next week I have meeting with some officials at the Home Office to discuss points like these and the week after with the Crime and Justice Transparency Sector Panel of the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>It was a great achievement of the government to get 43 Police Forces to start releasing data simultaneously once a month. It is the largest publicly available crime dataset in the world by far. With open data like crime, we think the role of government should be to continuously improve it&#8217;s quality as well as it&#8217;s quantity as long as that does not undermine judicial process or anonymity. However, you can&#8217;t just release the data and walk away and say job done without engaging with those who use it.<\/p>\n<div style=\"overflow: auto; position: absolute; height: 0pt; width: 0pt;\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arlene.info\/k\/gercek-sex-hikayeleri\/\" title=\"Ger\u00e7ek Sex Hikayeleri\">Ger\u00e7ek Sex Hikayeleri<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlypornox.com\/kategori\/orgazm-porno\/\" title=\"Orgazm Porno\">Orgazm Porno<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bethsex.com\/category\/porno-hikayeleri\" title=\"Porno Hikayeleri\">Porno Hikayeleri<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pornohope.com\/sayfa\/oral-sikis\" title=\"Oral siki\u015f\">Oral siki\u015f<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pornocelina.com\/kategori\/arap\" title=\"Arap\">Arap<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pornoliana.com\/kategori\/fantezi\/\" title=\"Fantezi Porno videolar\u0131\">Fantezi Porno videolar\u0131<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pornodolly.com\/kanal\/buyuk-gogusler\" title=\"B\u00fcy\u00fck g\u00f6\u011f\u00fcsler\">B\u00fcy\u00fck g\u00f6\u011f\u00fcsler<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear UKC followers and subscribers, Normally, we aim to release our update within a week after Police.uk release theirs and often much sooner. So we owe you an apology and an explanation on why it&#8217;s later than usual. First of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/05\/why-the-january-2012-update-is-coming-to-you-late-next-weekend\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-data-provision","category-crime-data-updata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2632,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/2632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukcrimestats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}