18
Jul
2017
By Calvin at 08:14 GMT, 6 years ago
Co-op Insurance has just launched a new tool to quickly identify where it might be safer to park your car in the street. The ‘Park Smart’ tool allows users to search for vehicle crime hot spots by postcode or location. The search reveals six months of data sourced from police.uk.
Basically it’s just like the police.uk crime map except they’re only showing the locations of the vehicle crime. This makes it very easy to see where the vehicle crime hotspots are located enabling the enquirer to make an informed decision about where to park their car.
The current map, which can be accessed from the link below or from the Co-op Insurance Hub, shows 6 months of vehicle crime up to April. I am informed that this will be updated each time police.uk updates their own crime distribution map, which is also showing up to April by the way*.
So, although the data is not the most up-to-date, the information is nevertheless useful in the sense that car crime hotspots have a habit of remaining hotspots for several months. I also think Co-op have been a bit clever in realising that the police.uk data can be reused in such a useful way. I wonder whether they’re thinking about doing the same for household burglary.
I think it is important to remember that most of the vehicle crimes plotted on the Park Smart map will relate to ‘theft from’ a vehicle and it is a fact that the majority of these could be prevented if only the drivers would think about crime risk when they leave their vehicles. Have a look at my guidance on this matter to understand what I mean.
Finally, if you’re intending to park in a town or city centre do check out the ParkMark website for the safest car parks. ParkMark car parks have all been assessed by the police; have low crime levels and security measures in place to ensure the safety of people and vehicles.
I like what Co-op Insurance has done and so I’m going to link to this useful tool from my website’s vehicle crime advice pages.
Relevant links:
Park Smart Tool https://hub.co-opinsurance.co.uk/park-smart/
Reducing Theft from Vehicles https://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/vehicle-security/638/reducing-theft-from-vehicles/
Park Mark car parks http://www.parkmark.co.uk/
* Is it me or is the police.uk crime data a bit old at the moment? I’m sure it used to be only 6 to 8 weeks behind. Currently it’s around 11 weeks behind.
