Are you concerned about crime in your area? Now you can access the figures at the click of a mouse.

In a radical overhaul of the way crime figures are delivered to the public, Kent Police have put the statistics on line.

So now you can compare your town’s crime levels with the one down the road, and find out how much crime is in the neighbourhood where you plan to buy a home.

The site lists various types of offences, including robbery, violence against a person and anti-social behaviour, down to ward level.

In Canterbury, the overall figure for crime in the last 12 months is down 10.6 per cent, with vehicle crime down 22.4 per cent, robbery down 16 per cent, anti-social behaviour down 12.2 per cent and burglary down 8.1 per cent, although violence against people is up 3.1 per cent.

The figures for Swale state that overall crime is down 3.6 per cent, with notable figures including vehicle crime down 22.9 per cent and anti-social behaviour down 15 per cent during the last 12 months, while burglary is up 4.8 per cent.

Click here to access the figures>>>

Ch Insp Martin Cunningham said: “A lot of people are interested in crimes in their area and how that compares to other areas.

“Once people start using the site and giving us feedback we might be able to identify improvements we can make to it.”

Ch Insp Cunningham added: “Real crime levels are often much lower than people think and this will help people to see that where they live is probably safer than they think.”

But John Oakley, the chairman of the east Kent branch of the National Association of Estate Agents, is concerned that the map could have an adverse effect on an already troubled housing market.

He said: “Things are pretty depressed anyway and all this can do is depress the market even further because you are almost identifying certain areas as ghettos.”