HC Deb 23 July 1976 vol 915 cc644-50W
Mr. Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will now publish the security statistics for Northern Ireland for the latest quarter.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

The information is as follows:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY
PART I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity
Yearly totals for 1970–75.
Quarterly totals for the first two quarters of 1976.
Statistics of 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 explosions and neutralised;
(v) Number of malicious fires;
(vi) Number of armed robberies and the amounts stolen;
(vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC-R, Army/UDR and civilians (including sectarian and interfactional assassinations).
PART II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity
Yearly totals for 1970–75.
Quarterly totals for first two quarters of 1976.
Statistics of security forces' activity comprise the following:
(i) Number of houses searched;
(ii) Number of arms, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found;
(iii) Number of people served with interim custody orders under the Emergency Provisions Act;
(iv) Number of people charged with serious security-type offences (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, theft and other offences related to the security situation (arson, membership of illegal organisations etc.)).

STATISTICS ON SECURITY—PART I
Yearly Figures Quarterly Figures
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January to March 1976 April to June 1976
Shooting Incidents 213 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 442 448
Explosions 153 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 207 181
Bombs Neutralised 47 508 515 542 428 236 129 117
Weight of Explosives (in lbs.):*
In Explosions 746 10,972 47,462 47,492 46,435 13,753 6,171 3,023
Neutralised 59 3,001 20,485 32,450 27,094 11,159 5,121 4,885
Malicious Firesf — — — 587 636 248 141 64
Armed Robberies† — 437 1,931 1,215 1,254 1,201 251 178
Amount Stolen — £303,787 £790,687 £612,015 £572,152 £572,105 £169,653 £185,327
Deaths: Civilians† (Sectarian and 23 115 322 171 166 216 79 68
Interfactional assassinations shown in brackets) — — (122) (87) (95) (144) (45) (36)
Deaths:
Army/UDR 0 48 129 66 35 20 7 6
RUC/RUC 'R' 2 11 17 13 15 11 6 9
Injuries:
Civilians‡ — 1,800 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 524 729
Army/UDR 620 390 578 548 483 167 56 43
RUC/RUC 'R' 191 317 466 291 235 263 49 72

STATISTICS ON SECURITY—PART II
Yearly Figures Quarterly Figures
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January to March 1976 April to June 1976
Houses Searched† … … 3,107 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 6,940 10,168
Finds:
Firearms … … 324 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 187 261
Ammunition (Rounds) … … 43,095 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,603 18,862 20,881
Explosives (lbs.) … … 798 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 11,154 6,138
ICOs made … … — — 75 512 312 11 0 0
* Estimated weights only.
† Consolidated figures are not available for earlier years.
‡ These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

PERSONS CHARGED WITH SERIOUS SECURITY-TYPE OFFENCES*
31st July 31st December 1972
1972 1973 1974 1975 January-March 1976 April-June 1976
Murder … … 13 71 75 138 40 10
Attempted murder … … 16 85 75 88 13 38
Firearms offences … … 242 631 544 460 70 112
Explosives offence … … 86 236 161 100 63 35
Theft Act … … 111 186 232 314 45 33
Other … … 63 205 275 97 63 61
Total … … 531 1,414 1,362 1,197 294 289
* These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years
† Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.