A Home Office press release this morning makes the explicit pledge: 'Every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have access to the latest local crime information through new interactive crime maps. [...] By the end of the year every police force area will produce crime maps which will allow the public to see where and when crime has happened, down to street level for some crimes; make comparisons with other areas; and learn how crime is being tackled by their local neighbourhood policing team.'
On the face of it, that's brilliant news. But five months to do this? That's brave - especially when we're looking at some pretty fundamental legislative questions, as highlighted on the Power of Information blog last week. The Guardian's Free Our Data campaign blog has a few recent items along similar lines.
Absolutely guaranteed to cause house prices in higher crime areas to plummet.
But on the other hand... if I'm about to buy a house in a high crime area, shouldn't I be entitled to know the facts beforehand?
The house prices argument is basically about your right to hoodwink an ignorant buyer: 'If they knew how bad crime was locally, they'd never pay that price.' And I just don't see that as 'fair play'.