UK Police Data — Free UK Crime Statistics API (No Key)

TL;DR

The UK Police Data API provides access to official crime data from all 43 territorial police forces in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Query street-level crime by latitude/longitude, get crime outcomes, search stop-and-search records, and find neighborhood policing teams. Data is published monthly by the Home Office. No API key required.

Quick start: https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime?lat=52.629729&lng=-1.138592

No API key needed — open UK government data!

How to Use This API

1. Street-Level Crime by Location

Get all crimes near a specific latitude/longitude (Leicester city center):

https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime?lat=52.629729&lng=-1.138592

2. Crime by Location and Date

https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime?lat=51.5074&lng=-0.1278&date=2024-01

3. List Police Forces

https://data.police.uk/api/forces

4. JavaScript — Crimes Near You

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(pos => {
  const {latitude, longitude} = pos.coords;
  fetch(`https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime?lat=${latitude}&lng=${longitude}`)
    .then(r => r.json())
    .then(crimes => {
      const categories = {};
      crimes.forEach(c => {
        categories[c.category] = (categories[c.category] || 0) + 1;
      });
      console.log('Crime breakdown:', categories);
    });
});

5. Python — Stop and Search Data

import requests

stops = requests.get(
    'https://data.police.uk/api/stops-street',
    params={'lat': 51.5074, 'lng': -0.1278, 'date': '2024-01'}
).json()

for stop in stops[:5]:
    print(f"{stop.get('age_range', 'N/A')} {stop.get('gender', 'N/A')}")
    print(f"  Reason: {stop.get('object_of_search', 'N/A')}")
    print(f"  Outcome: {stop.get('outcome', 'N/A')}")

Leicester city crimes: https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime?lat=52.629729&lng=-1.138592

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Frequently Asked Questions

What crime categories are available?: Categories include anti-social behaviour, burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violent crime, shoplifting, criminal damage, drugs, theft, and public order. A full list is at /api/crime-categories.
How recent is the data?: Crime data is published monthly with approximately a 2-month delay (e.g., January data is published in March). The date parameter uses YYYY-MM format.
Can I search by postcode instead of coordinates?: The API requires lat/lng coordinates. Use a geocoding service like Nominatim to convert postcodes to coordinates before querying.
What is the police force information endpoint?: /api/forces returns all territorial police forces with IDs, names, and contact info. Use /api/forces/{id} for detailed force data including neighborhood boundaries.
Does it cover Scotland?: No — Police Scotland data is managed separately. The API covers England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (43 forces total).
What about outcome data?: Use /api/outcomes-at-location or /api/outcomes-for-crime/{id} to get crime outcome data including status (under investigation, charged, unable to prosecute, etc.).

API Details

API URL: https://data.police.uk/api/
Documentation: data.police.uk/docs/
Category: Security
Authentication: Not Required
Geographic Coverage: England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

What You Can Build

Neighborhood safety map showing recent crime heatmaps by category
Property search tool with local crime statistics overlay
Personal safety app alerting when entering high-crime areas
Police transparency dashboard analyzing stop-and-search demographics
Crime trend analysis tool comparing month-over-month statistics