§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide for the latest convenient date the number of police officers in Scotland trained in the use of firearms.
§ Mr. RifkindAt 31 December 1978, the number of police officers in Scotland trained in the use of firearms was 1,374.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) for the years 1972, 1975 and 1978, what was the total number of indictable offences in Scotland where air weapons were used;
(2) for the years since 1972, what was the total number of indictable offences in Scotland recorded by the police in which air weapons were reported to have been used, classified by offence group.
§ Mr. RifkindConsistent information on firearms used in crime is available for 1978 only. Information on the number of crimes recorded by the police in which an air weapon was either used or recklessly handled causing property damage
NUMBER OF CRIMES INVOLVING AIR WEAPONS, 1978—SCOTLAND Type of injury Age of offender Fatal Serious Slight Total Under 17 … … … … — 6 78 84 17–21 … … … … — 1 20 21 21+ … … … … — 1 2 3 Age not known … … … … — 12 58 70 Total … … … … — 20 158 178
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland for the years 1977 and 1978, what was the total number of occasions on which guns were issued to police officers in Scotland; and what was the total number of guns issued to police officers in those years.
§ Mr. RifkindIn 1978, guns were issued to police officers in Scotland on 479 occasions. The other figures requested are not available and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland for the years 1977 and 1978, on how many occasions guns were 862W or injury is shown in "Criminal Statistics, Scotland 1978" Cmnd 7676, chapter 4, table 4.1. "Crimes" is the Scottish classification broadly equivalent to "indictable offences".
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) for the years 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978, what was the number of indictable offences in Scotland in which air weapons were used and in which (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) slight personal injury was caused, classified by age of offender, namely those under 17 years, those aged 17 years and under 21 years, those aged over 21 years and those where age was not known;
(2) for the years 1972, 1975 and 1978, what was the total number of indictable offences where air weapons were used in Scotland which resulted in personal injury; and, for each year, how many such injuries were (a) fatal, (b) serious or (c) slight.
§ Mr. RifkindConsistent information on firearms used in crimes is available for 1978 only. The information is set out in the following table. "Crimes" is the Scottish classification broadly equivalent to "indictable offences".
discharged by police officers in the course of their duties; and how many injuries and killings resulted from these discharges.
§ Mr. RifkindGuns were discharged by police officers on three occasions in 1977 and on three occasions in 1978, all in connection with the destruction of animals.