HC Deb 14 June 1979 vol 968 cc282-6W
Mr. J. Enoch Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the latest quarterly security statistics are now available.

Mr. Humphrey Atkins

Following is the information:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY
Part I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity
Yearly totals for 1971–78.
Quarterly totals for the first quarter of 1979.
Statistics for terrorist activity comprise the following:
(i) Number of shooting incidents
(ii) Number of explosions
(iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised
(iv) Weight of explosives in bombs and devices neutralised
(v) Number of malicious fires
(vi) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen
(vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC 'R' Army and civilians (including sectarian, interfactional and intra-factional assassinations)
STATISTICS ON SECURITY PART
Yearly Figures 1979
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Jan-9 Mar 79
SHOOTING INCIDENTS 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 1,908 1,081 755 189
EXPLOSIONS 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 766 366 455 90
BOMBS NEUTRALISED 493 471 542 428 236 426 169 178 35
WEIGHT OF EXPLOSIVES (IN LBS)* (1)
In explosions 10,972 47,462 47,472 46,435 13,753 17,596 2,839 5,443 2,015.5
Neutralised 3,001 19,978 32,450 27,094 11,159 16,252 2,188 5,860.5 559.5
ARMED ROBBERIES 437 1,931 1,215 1,231 1,201 813 591 439 132
AMOUNT STOLEN £ 303,787 790,687 612,015 572,951 572,105 545,497 446,988 231,250 64,354
MALICIOUS FIRES † 587 636 248 453 432 269 58
DEATHS: CIVILIANS † 115 322 171 166 216 245 69 50 7
(Sectarian, interfactional & intra-factional assassinations shown in brackets) (122) (87) (95) (144) (121) (42) (14) (1)
DEATHS: ARMY/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29 21 3
DEATHS: RUC/RUC 'R' 11 17 13 15 11 23 14 10
INJURIES: CIVILIANS 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 548 113
INJURIES: ARMY/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 117 22
INJURIES: RUC/RUC 'R' 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 [...]74 51
(*) Estimated weight only
(†) Consolidated figures not available for earlier years

Part II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity
Yearly totals for 1971–78.
Quarterly totals for the first quarter of 1979.
Statistics for Security Forces' Activity comprise the following:
(i) Number of houses searched
(ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found.
(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 SECURITY PART II
Yearly Figures 1979
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Jan-Mar 79
HOUSES SEARCHED† 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 34,939 20,724 15,462 1,285
FINDS: FIREARMS 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 400 95
FINDS: AMMUNTIONS (RDS) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 43,511 8,419
FINDS: EXPLOSIVES (LBS) 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 2,108 744.25
ICOS MADE 75 512 312 11 0 0 0
Persons charged with serious security type offences*
31 Jul–31 Dec 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Jan—Mar 1979
Murder 13 71 75 138 120 131 60 11
Attempted Murder 16 85 75 88 121 135 79 13
Firearms. 242 631 544 460 353 301 225 49
Explosives Offences 86 236 161 100 215 146 79 9
Theft Act 111 186 232 314 188 203 151 42
Other 63 205 275 97 279 392 249 63
TOTAL 531 1,414 1,362 1,197 1,276 1,308 843 187
* These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years
† Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.