Esri provides vital tool to help Crimestoppers boost information responsiveness

Esri, our partner since 2011, have developed a tool that enables our managers to access crime data instantly, eliminating the need to manually compile information from numerous reports.

As an independent charity, we work closely with police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across the UK to share and evaluate information about crimes reported anonymously by the public. Each year, over 200,000 reports are shared with local police forces, supplying crucial information that aids investigations, arrests and prosecutions.

Previously, the reporting mechanism used by our nationwide network of National and Regional Managers was very time-consuming. Consolidating reports could take weeks, and it became clear that there was a pressing need for automated geographic filtering and enrichment to more effectively communicate local issues, trends and patterns.

Whilst we were making updates to our ‘Self-Service’ portal, a tool used by managers to analyse and report on disseminated crime information, it became clear that Esri’s ArcGIS Dashboards could play a crucial role in sharing spatial information.

Supporting better crime prevention

With the new geographically-based dashboards, managers can now self-serve data from one intuitive screen, instantly running specific location searches and filtering results based on reported crimes, ranging from incidents like romance fraud to shoplifting. Having this information at their fingertips enables our managers to be more responsive and to produce more accurate reports, quicker than ever before.

PCCs now have faster access to these insightful reports and can collaborate promptly with their Crimestoppers’ Regional Manager to develop and implement hyper-local crime prevention strategies and campaigns.

“Our Regional Managers can now speak about their data with a new confidence. They can get more projects off the ground, provide better support to Crimestoppers’ partners and work in the communities which need our support the most.”

Karen Ogborn, Chief of Staff, Crimestoppers

“We are significantly expanding the number of reports we share with the police and, by using dashboard reporting, we can deliver accurate, essential data that will inform and shape more effective crime prevention strategies.”

Mick Duthie, Director of Operations, Crimestoppers

 Find out more about Crimestoppers' Contact Centre

 21 February 2025