PURECAR / DATA TRANSPARENCY
Vehicle crime sources & methodology
How PureCar uses official records without confusing mapped vehicle crime with individual stolen vehicles.
Two separate sources
Official PSNI offence statistics count specific categories such as motor-vehicle theft, theft from vehicles and aggravated vehicle taking. They are reported by financial year and council.
Police.uk mapped vehicle crime is a broader crime category. It contains approximate anonymised locations and recorded months, not individual crime addresses or specific vehicle details.
Geographic matching
PureCar assigns approximate Police.uk map positions to Northern Ireland council boundaries. Location anonymisation can introduce uncertainty near boundaries. Unmapped crimes cannot appear on the map.
Interpreting comparisons
Raw offence counts are not crime rates and cannot establish which council is safest. Comparisons also need to consider population, vehicle ownership and reporting patterns.
Historical updates
Crime data can be corrected or reclassified after its initial release. All figures should be read with their source period and definition.