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¶
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.