People in England and Wales can now go online to view maps showing crime trends in their neighbourhood.

All 43 forces are now publishing the colour-coded internet maps, which show where and when crimes such as burglary, violent crimes and car theft have been committed.

The aim is to help members of the public see how police are tackling crimes as well as giving people perspective and putting crime into a local context.

It is also hoped the maps will help police tackle crime, including catching serial offenders and mapping street crime risk so they know how best to deploy policing resources.

Neil Rhodes, Deputy Chief Constable of Lincolnshire and Association of Chief Police Officers lead on Crime Mapping, said: "For many years, all forces have mapped crimes and incidents to help them focus investigations, analyse hot spots and tackle crime vigorously.

"The information now on the forces' websites has a different, more community-focused, perspective and means the public can now look at crime levels in their community simply by putting their postcode into their local police force's website."

Crime mapping formed part of the Government’s commitment to strengthen community engagement in policing at the heart of the reform programme outlined in last year’s Policing Green Paper.

When the map programme was announced in July 2008, the Government said the intention was that every force in England and Wales would produce the crime maps by the end of the year.

Although the maps are currently updated monthly, a Home Office representative said the frequency was up to local forces and may be subject to change.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "I am determined to give people the crime information which, as the Casey Review found, they want.

"By empowering people with this information, they are able to engage more with their neighbourhood policing teams... crime mapping can help ensure people's voices are heard when police set crime fighting priorities.

"Providing this information to the public helps to make the police even more accountable."