Have you checked out the new (and slightly controversial) Home Office crime website yet?

Launched this week - and already attracting much criticism - is a new website that allows visitors to search the crime data for their area, allowing residents find out exactly how their street, village or town has been affected by criminal behaviour.

According to The Times though this morning, it attracted 18 million hits an hour yesterday, and was unable to cope with demand. Even if people did manage to access the information held about their area, they were often shocked by what it wrongly contained.

I've had a quick look this morning, and for Cranbrook, the data looks pretty accurate to me, with extremely low levels of burglary, anti-social behaviour and violent crimes recorded on local streets - in fact, just 12 incidents were registered in December 2010. Details of local police officers are included, plus meeting dates, and some useful tips to prevent common crimes occurring.

See the site at www.police.uk - and let us know what you think. Do you think the data held about your street is correct?