Victims of crime can track police inquiry via internet

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright yesterday officially launched TrackMyCrime across the county after investing £49,000 in the technology developed by police in Avon and Somerset.

The service has been running in Doncaster since mid-February as part of a pilot and officers in Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield are now being trained in how to use it. Bosses say it will be available to every victim of crime in South Yorkshire by early April.

Mr Wright said: “This is a fantastic initiative that will help ease some of the suffering to the victim. Being a victim of crime is incredibly upsetting and it is important that we do all we can to ensure victims are better informed about how their investigation is progressing.

“TrackMyCrime will help them to feel more in control and will update them in real time at their convenience. I will continue to push forward schemes like this to improve the service we provide to victims and to help decrease their pain and suffering.

“We should always put victims first, listening to how they feel and acting on what will make their time dealing with officers as satisfying as possible.

“It is not a requirement that victims use the system, but its availability will give them a very important choice.”

Tyrone Ali, one of the officers who helped bring the scheme to South Yorkshire, said: “TrackMyCrime is simple technology but is vital in giving the victim control in how they receive information.

“There are benefits for the officers too; it can often be tricky to try to fit in a phone call or visit with a victim when you are working nights.

“Using this system, we can send the update overnight and the victim will receive it when they check their account in the morning.”

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