Summary
Police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales answer different questions. Police recorded crime shows incidents recorded by the police, while the Crime Survey estimates people’s experiences of crime whether or not they reported it. Police.uk maps are useful for local patterns, but their points are anonymised and approximate, so they should not be read as exact crime locations.
Definition
Police recorded crime is administrative data based on offences reported to or recorded by police forces. The Crime Survey for England and Wales is a household survey that measures victimisation experience and is useful for trends and crimes that may not be reported. Police.uk maps publish street level records using approximate anonymised locations, so they are best used for broad local context rather than judging one property or one street corner.