HC Deb 20 February 1979 vol 963 cc164-70W

Statistics of Security Forces' Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–1977.

Quarterly totals for the four quarters of 1978.

Statistics for Security Forces Activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of houses searched.
  2. (ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found.
  3. (iii) Number of people charged with serious security type offences: (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, armed robbery, and other offences relating to the security situation, eg, arson, membership of illegal organisations etc.)

STATISTICS ON SECUIITY—PART I
Yearly Figures 1978 Quarterly Figures
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 January-March April-June July-September October-December
Shooting incidents 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 1,908 1,081 235 183 173 164
Explosions 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 766 366 127 71 62 195
Bombs neutralised 493 471 542 428 236 426 169 56 29 28 65
Weight of explosives (in lbs.)*
In explosions 10,972 47,472 47,472 46,435 13,753 17,596 2,839 641 2,271.5 279 2,151.5
Neutralised 3,001 19,978 32,450 27,094 11,159 16,252 2,188 1,268.5 1,262.5 1,670.5 1,659
Armed robberies 437 1,931 1,215 1,231 1,201 813‡ 591 149 126 72 92
Amount stolen (£) 303,787 790,687 612,015 572,951 572,105 545,497 446,988 57,014 59,219 86,161 28,856
Malicious fires 587 636 248 453 432 62 63 83 61
Deaths:
Civilians (Sectarian, interfactional, intra-factional assassinations shown in brackets) 115 322 (122) 171 (87) 166 (95) 216 (144) 245 (121) 69 (42) 20 (3) 12 (5) 11 (4) 7 (2)
Army/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29 8 2 4 7
RUC/RUC "R" 11 17 13 15 11 23 14 2 5 3
Injuries:
Civilians 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 147 91 127 183
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 41 40 31 23
RUC/RUC "R" 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 60 32 23 187
* Estimated weight only.
Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
‡ These totals have been revised.

STATISTICS ON SECURITY—PART II
Yearly Figures 1978 Quarterly Figures
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 January-March April-June July-September October-December
Houses searched 17,262 36,617 74,556 74,914 30,002 34,919 20,724 5,987 4,399 3,600 1,476
Finds:
Firearms 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 113 120 74 93
Ammunition (rounds) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 12,610 13,044 8,586 9,272
Explosives (lbs.) 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 205.5 410 266.5 1,226
ICOS made 75 512 312 11 0 0 0 0 0 0

PERSONS CHARGED WITH SERIOUS SECURITY-TYPE OFFENCES*
31 July-31 December January-March April-June July-September October-December
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1978 1978 1978
Murder & & 13 71 75 138 120 131 14 29 5 12
Attempted Murder & & 16 85 75 88 121 135 30 24 11 14
Firearms Offences & & 242 631 544 460 353 301 67 44 57 57
Explosives Offences & 86 236 161 100 215 146 40 9 14 16
Theft Act & & 111 186 232 314 188 203 45 40 43 23
Other & & 63 205 275 97 279 392 65 68 59 57
531 1,414 1,362 1,197 1,276 1,308 261 214 189 179
* These figures are not availalbe in consolidated form for earlier years.
Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
PERSONS CONVICTED AND SENTENCES IMPOSED AT BELFAST CITY COMMISSION
JULY TO DECEMBER 1978
Notes on the Tables
1. The offence classifications are based on those used by the Crown and Peace Office in its annual return.
2. The tables relate to persons convicted at the Belfast City Commission. This covers all scheduled offences tried on indictment.
3. Some jury trials are included in cases where the Attorney General certified out of the scheduled mode of trial, i.e. non-terrorist serious offences.
4. Where a person has been convicted of more than one offence only the most serious or that which received the longest sentence is recorded in the statistics.

JULY TO DECEMBER 1978
Offence Number convicted Non-custodial sentence Borstal or Training Centre Less than 5 years 5 years and less than 7 years 7 years and less than 10 years 10 years and less than 15 years 15 years and less than 20 yean 20 years and over Life
Murder 22 22
Attempted Murder 10 2 1 2 1 2 2
Conspiracy to Murder 2 1 1
Manslaughter 5 1 1 2 1
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm 3 2 1
Causing explosion 17 4 6 1 3 2 1
Placing explosives
Possessing explosives with intent 13 2 5 1 4 1
Causing grievous bodily harm 2 1 1
Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm 4 1 3
Possessing Firearms with intent 17 1 5 2 4 4 1
Possessing a firearm
Carrying a firearm with intent 4 2 2
Intimidation 4 1 3
Aggravated Burglary 1 1
Robbery 74 18 19 9 7 3
Hi-jacking 13 9 3 1
Arson 40 19 1 16 3 1
Malicious Damage
Other explosive offences 17 5 4 2 1 5
Petrol bomb offences
Common Law riot
Escape offences
Assisting offenders 1 1
Other major firearms offences 2 1 1
Withholding information 7 4 2 1
Possessing prohibited articles 8 5 1 2
Minor firearms offences 27 13 2 12
Membership of illegal organisations 38 27 1 9 1
Unlawful collection of information 2 2
Illegal training
Kidnapping and false imprisonment 11 7 1 3
Total 344 120 29 90 30 19 23 7 3 23

Back to
Forward to