HC Deb 29 October 1976 vol 918 cc412-6W
Mr. Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now publish the security statistics for the third quarter of this year.

Mr. Mason

The information is as follows:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY

PART I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity

Yearly totals for 1970–1975.

Quarterly totals for the first three quarters of 1976.

Statistics of terrorist activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of shooting incidents;
  2. (ii) Number of explosions;
  3. (iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised;
  4. (iv) Weight of explosives in explosions and neutralised;
  5. (v) Number of malicious fires;
  6. (vi) Number of armed robberies and the amounts stolen;
  7. (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 1970–1975.

Quarterly totals for first three quarters of 1976.

Statistics of security forces' activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of houses searched;
  2. (ii) Number of arms, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found;
  3. (iii) Number of people served with interim custody orders under the Emergency Provisions Act;
  4. (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 1976 quarterly figures
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January-March April-June July-September
Shooting incidents 213 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 442 448 575
Explosions 153 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 207 181 218
Bombs neutralised 17‡ 493‡ 471‡ 542 428 236 129 117 108
Weight of explosives (in lbs.)*—
In explosions 746 10,972 47,462 47,472‡ 46,435 13,753 6,171 3,023 5,203
Neutralised 59 3,001 19,978‡ 32,450 27,094 11,159 5,121 4,885 3,103
Malicious fires‡ — — — 587 636 248 141 64 175
Armed robberies‡ — 437 1,931 1,215 1,231‡ 1,201 251 158‡ 180
Amount stolen — £303,787 £790,687 £612,015 £572,951 £572,105 £169,653 £185,327 £117,007
Deaths: Civilians‡ (Sectarian and inter- 23 115 322 171 166 216 78‡ 68 51
factional assassinations‡ shown in brackets). — — (122) (87) (95) (144) (45) (30)‡ (16)
Deaths: Army/UDR 0 48 129 66 35 29 8 5 5
Deaths: RUC/RUC 'R' 2 11 17 13 15 11 6 9 3
Injuries: Civilian‡ — 1,800 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 524 729 495
Injuries: Army/UDR 620 390 578 548 483 167 56 43 83
Injuries: RUC/RUC 'R' 191 317 466 291 235 263 49 72 38
* Estimated weight only.
† Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
‡Figure amended since previous quarterly report due to revision of earlier records.

STATISTICS ON SECURITY PART I
Yearly totals 1976 quarterly totals
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January-March April-June July-September
House searched† … … 3,107 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 6,940 10,168 9,405
Finds: Firearms … … 324 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 187 261 189
Finds: Ammunition (rounds) … … 43,095 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 18,862 20,881 16,747
Finds: Explosives … … 798 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 11,154 6,138 2,849
ICOS made … … — — 75 512 312 11 0 0 0

PERSONS CHARGED WITH SERIOUS SECURITY-TYPE OFFENCES*
31st July-31st December January-March April-June July-September
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1976 1976
Murder … … … 13 71 75 138 40 10 22
Attempted murder … … … 16 85 75 88 13 38 33
Firearms offences … … … 242 631 544 460 70 112 91
Explosives offences … … … 86 236 161 100 63 35 47
Theft act … … … 111 186 232 314 45 33 50
Other … … … 63 205 275 97 63 61 98
531 1,414 1,362 1,197 294 289 341
* These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.
† Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.