datapopy

datapopy is a Python wrapper for the public data.police.uk API. It smooths over the raw HTTP interface so you can explore UK policing data - forces, neighbourhoods, crimes, and stop-and-search reports - without rebuilding the basics every time.

Features

• Retrieve the catalogue of UK police forces and fuzzy-search by name or ID.
• Query street-level crimes by category, coordinates, location IDs, or custom polygons.
• Pull outcomes, stop-and-search data, and other time-bound datasets with consistent helpers.
• Discover neighbourhood details including boundaries, priorities, police teams, and events.
• Generate GeoDataFrames for neighbourhood boundaries when geopandas is available.

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or newer
• Core dependency: requests (installed automatically)
• Optional: pandas/matplotlib for analysis and plotting, geopandas/shapely for spatial workflows

Installation

From source

git clone https://github.com/daa2618/datapopy.git
cd datapopy
python -m venv .venv
# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS / Linux
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

From PyPI

The project is preparing for an initial release. Once published you will be able to run:

pip install datapopy

Quickstart

from data_police_uk.datapopy import DataPoliceUK

client = DataPoliceUK()
forces = client.LIST_OF_FORCES

print(f"{len(forces)} police forces found")
print(forces[0])

LIST_OF_FORCES returns a list of dictionaries with id/name keys that can be passed to the specialist helpers below.

Working with crime data

from data_police_uk.datapopy import CrimesData

crimes = CrimesData()

# Fetch shoplifting incidents around Leicester in January 2024
shoplifting = crimes.get_street_level_crimes_by_type(
    crime_id="shoplifting",
    lat=52.629729,
    lng=-1.131592,
    year="2024",
    month="01",
)

# Fetch all available street-level crimes for the same point
all_crimes = crimes.get_all_street_level_crimes(
    lat=52.629729,
    lng=-1.131592,
    year="2024",
    month="01",
)

# Use a bounding box (poly) if you need a custom polygon
poly = [
    "52.636,-1.135",
    "52.636,-1.120",
    "52.622,-1.120",
    "52.622,-1.135",
]
crimes_in_area = crimes.get_all_street_level_crimes(bounding_box=poly)

CrimesData exposes additional helpers for outcomes, available datasets, and crime categories. Consult the inline docstrings for more options.

Exploring neighbourhoods

from data_police_uk.datapopy import Neighborhoods

met = Neighborhoods("metropolitan")

# List neighbourhoods served by the Metropolitan Police
neighbourhoods = met.ALL_NEIGHBORHOOD_IDS_AND_NAMES

# Fetch detailed information and priorities
kensington = met.get_specific_neighborhood_info("EA0201")
priority_items = met.get_neighborhood_priorities("EA0201")

# Convert all neighbourhood polygons to a GeoDataFrame (requires geopandas)
gdf = met.POLICE_FORCE_BOUNDARY

Stop and search data

from data_police_uk.datapopy import StopAndSearches

stop_search = StopAndSearches()
march_stops = stop_search.get_stop_searches_for_coords(
    lat=52.629729,
    lng=-1.131592,
    year="2024",
    month="03",
)

Example: Visualise crime counts

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

from data_police_uk.datapopy import CrimesData

crimes = CrimesData()
data = crimes.get_all_street_level_crimes(
    lat=51.5074,
    lng=-0.1278,
    year="2024",
    month="01",
)

df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df["category"].value_counts().sort_values().plot.barh(title="London crimes (Jan 2024)")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

This example assumes pandas and matplotlib are installed in your environment.

API coverage

Endpoint	Purpose
/forces	List all police forces
/forces/{id}	Retrieve information about a single force
/crimes-street/{crime-id}	Retrieve crimes by category, coordinates, or polygon
/outcomes-at-location	Retrieve street-level outcomes
/stops-street	Retrieve stop-and-search reports
/{force}/neighbourhoods	List neighbourhoods served by a force
/{force}/neighbourhoods/{id}	Retrieve details, priorities, personnel, and boundary geometry

Refer to the official docs for the full API surface: https://data.police.uk/docs/

Development

• Install dependencies with pip install -e .[dev] when development extras are published, or manually add the tools from pyproject.toml.
• Run the test suite (when available) with pytest.
• Use a virtual environment to avoid polluting your global Python installation.

Contributing

Contributions are very welcome. Helpful ways to get involved:

• Report bugs or feature requests through GitHub Issues.
• Improve documentation and examples.
• Add or expand tests to cover new API endpoints.
• Extend coverage to additional datasets (e.g. priorities, senior staff, stop-and-search outcomes).

Please open a pull request once your change is ready.

FAQ

Do I need an API key?
No. The data.police.uk API is open and does not require authentication.

Is this an official wrapper?
Not currently. datapopy is a community project that builds on top of the public API.

License

This project is distributed under the MIT License.