Police should be held to account on crime maps

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 3rd Sep 2008

Commenting on the launch of the Metropolitan Police crime map following today's Mayoral press conference Dee Doocey AM, the Liberal Democrat group's policing spokesperson at the London Assembly, says: "Crime maps are an interesting and positive innovation but we must ensure resources aren't diverted away from tackling the problems of crime to serving gimmicks like this. What Londoners really want to see is police on the streets.

"The maps are a useful first step in reducing crime by spreading best practice but we need to also see local detection rates on the maps so the public can hold the police to account if crimes aren't cleared up. If a criminal thinks they'll be caught then they're much more likely to think twice before committing the crime in the first place."