HC Deb 19 November 1985 vol 87 cc138-9W
Mr. Corbyn

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last year authority has been given for the use of firearms by police in each police authority.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The table shows the number of operations involving criminals or other persons known or believed to be armed in which firearms were issued to the police, and the number of occasions on which they were fired, in 1984.

Police force Number of operations in respect of which firearms were issued Number of operations in which firearms were fired
Avon and Somerset 17
Bedfordshire 10
Cambridgeshire 8
Cheshire 13
Cleveland 8
City of London 4
Cumbria 5
Derbyshire 8
Devon and Cornwall 28
Dorset 27
Durham 10 1
Essex 44 1
Gloucestershire 7
Greater Manchester 52
Hampshire 23 1
Hertfordshire 27
Humberside 56
Kent 37
Lancashire 35
Leicestershire 8
Lincolnshire 2
Merseyside 61
Metropolitan 1,838 3
Norfolk 13

Police force Number of operations in respect of which firearms were issued Number of operations in which firearms were fired
Northamptonshire 6
Northumbria 15
North Yorkshire 14
Nottinghamshire 10
South Yorkshire 13
Staffordshire 5
Suffolk 17
Surrey 32
Sussex 51
Thames Valley 17
Warwickshire 8
West Mercia 12
West Midlands 17
West Yorkshire 78
Wiltshire 12
Dyfed Powys 3
Gwent 2
North Wales 10
South Wales 4
TOTAL 2,667 6

Note: These figures relate only to police operations involving criminals or other persons known or believed to be armed. They do not include the issue of firearms for protection purposes or the issue and use of firearms to destroy injured or dangerous animals.