Police API Client (Python)

The Police API Client is an open-source client for the Police API. It was built to power the new Police.uk website.

View the README for installation instructions and quick-start examples.

Contents

• Police API Client (Python)
  • Contents
  • Configuration
  • Forces
  • Neighbourhoods
  • Crime & Outcomes
• Reference
  • Police API
  • Forces
  • Neighbourhoods
  • Crime

Configuration

The API doesn’t require any configuration or authentication, so all you need to do to get going is make a PoliceAPI instance:

>>> from police_api import PoliceAPI
>>> api = PoliceAPI()

Fore available methods and configuration parameters, see the Police API reference.

Forces

To retrieve a list of police forces, use get_forces():

>>> api.get_forces()
[<Force> Avon and Somerset Constabulary, ..., <Force> Wiltshire Police]

If you know the ID of a particular force, then you can use get_force():

>>> force = api.get_force('leicestershire')
>>> force
<Force> Leicestershire Police

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Forces reference.

Neighbourhoods

Forces are broken down into Neighbourhood Policing Teams:

>>> force.neighbourhoods
[<Neighbourhood> C02, <Neighbourhood> L03, ..., <Neighbourhood> L69]

If you know the ID of a particular neighbourhood, then you can use get_neighbourhood():

>>> neighbourhood = api.get_neighbourhood('leicestershire', 'C02')
>>> neighbourhood
<Neighbourhood> C02

Or, if you already have a Force object:

>>> neighbourhood = force.get_neighbourhood('C02')
>>> neighbourhood
<Neighbourhood> C02

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Neighbourhoods reference.

Officers

The contact details for each officer in a particular neighbourhood are available:

>>> neighbourhood.officers
[<Neighbourhood.Officer> Michelle Zakoscielny, ..., <Neighbourhood.Officer> Richard Jones]

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Officers reference.

Events

Neighbourhood-level events (beat meetings, surgeries, etc.) are available:

>>> neighbourhood.events
[<Neighbourhood.Event> Stocking Farm beat surgery, ..., <Neighbourhood.Event> Stocking Farm beat surgery]

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Events reference.

Priorities

Policing teams set priorities to deal with in their neighbourhoods, which are represented by an issue, and an action to be taken:

>>> neighbourhood.priorities
[<Neighbourhood.Priority> <p>To address the issues of people begging next to cash machines in Market Street and surrounding area.</p>, ..., <Neighbourhood.Priority> <p>To reduce street drinking and associated anti-social behaviour on Conduit Street and London Road between 10am and 6pm each day.</p>]

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Priorities reference.

Crime & Outcomes

The crime data is updated monthly, and each data set is represented by a date string, in the format YYYY-MM:

>>> api.get_dates()
[u'2014-03', u'2014-02', u'2014-01', ..., u'2010-12']
>>> api.get_latest_date()
u'2014-03'

To get crimes within a particular neighbourhood, call get_crimes_area with that neighbourhood’s boundary:

>>> pprint(api.get_crimes_area(neighbourhood.boundary))
[<Crime> 30412621,
 <Crime> 30412622,
 <Crime> 30409577,
 <Crime> 30411516,
 ...
 <Crime> 30410475,
 <Crime> 30412775,
 <Crime> 30411518,
 <Crime> 30412182]

To fetch data for months other than the latest one, use a date string like the ones returned by get_dates:

>>> pprint(api.get_crimes_area(neighbourhood.boundary, date='2013-10'))
[<Crime> 27566767,
 <Crime> 27573059,
 <Crime> 27570299,
 <Crime> 27570923,
 ...
 <Crime> 27569847,
 <Crime> 27570896,
 <Crime> 27571396,
 <Crime> 27570916]

Crimes contain the date, category and location:

>>> crime = api.get_crime('ddf4c172d29569ab0cb667a346bcffad18f54a9bc3e0ae9694d2daf6738f068b')
>>> crime
<Crime> 20325597
>>> crime.month
u'2013-01'
>>> crime.category
<CrimeCategory> Shoplifting
>>> crime.location
<Location> 701166
>>> crime.location.name, crime.location.latitude, crime.location.longitude
(u'On or near Constance Close', u'51.737837', u'-2.235178')

Crimes have a list of outcomes, which represents the timeline of events since the crime was reported:

>>> pprint(crime.outcomes)
[<Crime.Outcome> Under investigation,
 <Crime.Outcome> Suspect charged,
 <Crime.Outcome> Awaiting court outcome,
 <Crime.Outcome> Offender imprisoned]
>>> crime.outcomes[-1].date
u'2013-01'

Crime objects representing Anti-Social Behaviour will not have outcomes:

>>> asb = api.get_crimes_area(neighbourhood.boundary, category='anti-social-behaviour')[0]
>>> asb.outcomes
[]

Fore available attributes and methods, see the Crime reference.