Mapping a way to cut neighbourhood crime or charting fall in house prices?

By 10am yesterday, just a few hours after its official launch, the much heralded police.uk website was attracting 300,000 hits a minute and duly crashed under the deluge.

Some of the hits were no doubt from the country's police forces, checking their data had been inputted correctly, but most were from members of the public desperate to know not only how their street ranked when it came to violent crime, burglaries and incidents of anti-social behaviour, but how it compared to the addresses of friends and colleagues.

Most of those who tried to access the site were left wondering. The amount of interest in the crime maps took the firm responsible for designing the 300,000 website by surprise and most users were greeted with a blank page or message which simply read: "No police area is associated with this address".

At 7.41am yesterday the Twitter feed from the offices of website designers Rock Kitchen Harris read: "Can't believe the traffic our new website is getting, it's absolute incredible." Less than 40 minutes later the Tweets had stopped as the technical team desperately tried to get the site back up and running.

By yesterday evening, the site was still refusing to give up its information, but when it is finally working properly it will allow people to find out which crimes have taken place on or near their street within the last month, as well as the names of the officers responsible for policing their area.

From the first batch of figures, obtained from an old-fashioned spreadsheet, West Yorkshire, perhaps unsurprisingly led the way in many categories, recording the fifth highest number of incidents of anti-social behaviour in the country with 7,749 reported cases in December.

Similarly no one will be too shocked by the news that when it came to violent crime in the run-up to Christmas, the county's town and city centres were the focus of most incidents. Leeds, Scarborough, Sheffield and Huddersfield all registered in the top 10 with a total of 56 crimes between them.

It's the first time such detailed crime maps, which give street-by-street results for six types of offences, including burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence and anti-social behaviour, have been available for an entire country anywhere in the world. Teething troubles aside, the Government clearly views the website as a step forward in increasing accountability, but the project has not been without its critics.

Concerns have been raised the information may have a negative impact on areas already struggling with poor reputations and in the worst-case scenario could adversely effect house prices. Certainly for the residents of Bayswater Court in Hull, the news they came top of December's burglary league is hardly the kind of accolade they'll be rushing to shout about.

However, Policing Minister Nick Herbert, who initially denied there was a problem accessing the site when he was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday morning, insisted the online maps were a vital step forward in crime reduction.

"The number of incidents that it lists does tell us something the public have been telling us for some time, that anti-social behaviour is there and it's something they're concerned about," he said. "It reveals it and I think it will drive action to deal with it.

"We can't sweep crime under the carpet. This kind of issue has been addressed in other countries and I don't think it's something we need to fear. We have to tell the truth about crime. This is a very important part of a strengthened effort to fight crime, to enhance accountability, to ensure that something is being done and to involve the public in that fight."

Last September, figures released by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary showed only one in four incidents of anti-social behaviour were reported and communities were "becoming used to things we should not have become used to".

The aim of the online maps is to give the public access to information which will allow them to hold their local forces to account. Its effectiveness remains to be seen, but Theresa May has been quick to silence critics of the scheme.

"It's not the existence of a map on a website that affects house prices," said the Home Secretary. "This is giving people a real tool, real power to see that something is being done about crime in their area. It doesn't make them feel frightened, it actually makes them feel part of what is happening.

"The site was born from a real feeling that people have lost confidence in national crime figures. This will give them real facts and figures. This will make the police more accountable. It gives people a real tool to hold the police to account."

Those who did manage to log onto the site yesterday were quick to point out the various flaws in the new system. It soon emerged two streets near to the main police call handling centre in Sussex ranked unusually high on the crime maps. It transpired hoax calls, the majority of them made from mobiles, had been logged at the centre's address because there was no alternative geographical location.

Elsewhere, a quiet street in Hampshire, just 100m long, was recorded as having fallen victim to 136 crimes in December. As the local councillor branded its inclusion in the country's most crime-ridden streets crackers, the local police force admitted its postcode also covered a nearby row of bars and clubs.

The devil will inevitably in the detail and with the police forces facing unprecedented budget cuts many will be keeping a close-eye to see how the purse-tightening reflects in the monthly crime statistics.

"Knowing where crimes takes place isn't enough if there aren't sufficient police to deal with it," said Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, keen to score another point against the coalition's cuts. "People want to know what effect the Government's deep and rapid cuts to the police are going to have on their area.

"Already since the General Election we have lost around 2,000 police officers and with 20 per cent cuts to police budgets this is only the thin edge of the wedge. Accountability is an important and key part of neighbourhood policing, but we also need Government accountability on the resources police have available."

In truth the crime maps are not an entirely new phenomena. The new website was based on a template pioneered by the West Yorkshire force. The area's Police Authority launched www.beatcrime.info five years ago to give people access not only to local crime figures at the touch of a button, but also information of recent action taken by officers.

"We have been providing local communities with detailed crime statistics for the last five years or so through the beatcrime website," said Mark Burns Williamson, chair of West Yorkshire Police Authority.

"Crime mapping brings accountability to the armchair for everyone who wants to monitor crime on their street. It's worked brilliantly in trials where concerned residents work with their local police authority who can take into account the bigger picture of crime committed not just on the street, but behind closed doors.

"The popularity of crime mapping shows people identify with and want to influence their neighbourhood and their district. The Police Authority working closely with the force took a brave decision to launch the site amidst concern about the information being made public in such a way.

"However, those concerns have proved to be unfounded and we now have a regular customer base of people who access the site to keep well informed of crime patterns in their area."

To check details of your street visit www.police.uk

Worst for all crimes

1. Briggate, Leeds 92

2. Meadow Hall Rd, Sheffield 86

3. Wellington St, South Yorks 74

4. Merion Way, Leeds 64

5. Vicar Lane, Leeds 63

6. St Nicholas St, Scarborough 61

7. New Briggate, Leeds 59

8. Albion St, Leeds 55

9. Portland Crescent 54

10. Museum St, York 52

Worst for anti-social Behaviour

1. Kepple Close, Doncaster 45

2. Briggate, Leeds 40

3. Museum St, York 34

4. St Nicholas St, Scarborough 32

5 Wellington St, South Yorks 22

6. Elder Rd, Northallerton 18

7. Rougier St, York 18

8. Eldon St, South Yorks 18

9. New Briggate, Leeds 18

10. Silver St, South Yorks 17

Worst for burglary

1. Bayswater Court, Hull 9

2. Ringwood Way, West Yorks 8

3. Bethlehem St, Grimsby 8

4. Market St, West Yorks 7

5. Chestnut Grove, West Yorks 7

6. Lulworth Drive, Leeds 6

7. Beamsley Mount, Leeds 6

8. Agbrigg Rd, Wakefield 5

9. Reservoir Rd, Hull 5

10. Harden Grove, West Yorks 5

Worst for violent crime

1. Briggate, Leeds 17

2. Wellington St, South Yorks 17

3. St Nicholas St, Scarborough 14

4. Bethlehem Street, Grimsby 13

5. Silver Street, South Yorks 13

6. Cross Church St, West Yorks 12

7. Market Hill, South Yorks 10

8. Wards End, West Yorks 10

9. Silvester St, Hull 10

10. Cambridge St, South Yorks 10