§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last year officers in each police force had to draw firearms in the line of duty; and what are the figures for each of the previous three years. [41363]
§ Mr. MacleanNumbers of police operations in England and Wales in which firearms were issued to officers are as follows:
823W
Forces 1991 1992 1993 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995 Lincolnshire 21 22 41 50 Merseyside 35 57 74 116 Metropolitan Police 1,520 1,838 12,585 1,804 Norfolk 38 28 30 56 North Wales 38 29 34 60 North Yorkshire 16 26 25 25 Northamptonshire 11 10 43 40 Northumbria 325 320 299 593 Nottinghamshire 35 28 77 47 South Wales 24 18 22 55 South Yorkshire 39 78 244 172 Staffordshire 15 18 29 21 Suffolk 84 99 75 119 Surrey 37 64 36 60 Sussex 116 63 53 375 Thames Valley 37 34 48 65 Warwickshire 12 12 28 25 West Mercia 63 64 73 50 West Midlands 66 172 209 141 West Yorkshire 200 377 258 181 Wiltshire 15 18 12 26 England and Wales Total 3,722 4,479 5,625 5,843 1 This figure is unreliable due to inadvertent double-counting. Figures for operations in which firearms were issued to officers are not available for the first three months of 1994. The number of operations in which police firearms were fired was five in 1991, 12 in 1992, five in 1993 and six between 1 January 1994 and 31 March 1995.