HC Deb 15 December 1998 vol 322 cc462-5W
Mr. Reed

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish statistics on the police use of firearms for the latest period for which such statistics are available. [62268]

Mr. Boateng

The statistics for April 1997 to March 1998 show that the number of police operations in which firearms were issued to officers was 11,842, a fall of over 4 per cent. on the previous year. The number of occasions on which firearms were discharged by police fell to just three, from five the previous year, resulting in two fatalities.

There was a decrease of 7 per cent. to 7,510 in the number of operations in which armed response vehicles were deployed. Firearms were carried in these vehicles, but were not necessarily issued to offers on each occasion.

Full details are set out in the tables.

Number of operations in which firearms were issued
1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Total 6,141 8,726 12,379 11,842
Avon and Somerset 156 326 312 139
Bedfordshire 36 264 345 323
Cambridgeshire 73 47 54 96
Cheshire 93 219 288 216
Cleveland 107 487 1,026 103
City of London 325 275 308 307
Cumbria 44 54 72 68
Derbyshire 68 72 109 147
Devon and Cornwall 29 90 160 133
Dorset 46 36 36 54
Durham 100 111 131 103
Essex 267 267 331 505
Gloucestershire 27 33 41 51
Greater Manchester 110 142 214 165
Hampshire 195 190 245 217
Hertfordshire 69 47 96 82
Humberside 49 92 291 472
Kent 95 82 236 423
Lancashire 57 227 333 338
Leicestershire 78 138 155 89
Lincolnshire 50 25 58 52
Merseyside 116 280 671 675
Metropolitan 1,804 2,178 2,439 2,578
Norfolk 56 96 166 128
Northamptonshire 40 54 64 77
Northumbria 593 452 1,360 823
North Yorkshire 25 52 65 102
Nottinghamshire 47 57 84 306
South Yorkshire 172 225 155 302
Staffordshire 21 80 257 240
Suffolk 119 150 180 193
Surrey 60 70 133 87
Sussex 375 445 235 330
Thames Valley 65 96 215 227
Warwickshire 25 55 97 152
West Mercia 50 59 106 132
West Midlands 141 226 270 227
West Yorkshire 181 657 617 630
Wiltshire 26 26 26 26
Dyfed Powys 16 11 17 27
Gwent 20 47 89 86
North Wales 60 117 233 310
South Wales 55 69 59 101
Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs)
1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Total 6,837 6,554 6,738 6,137
Avon and Somerset 156 157 165 161
Bedfordshire 67 48 46 42
Cambridgeshire 87 92 90 80
Cheshire 122 84 70 82
Cleveland 55 65 86 84
City of London 146 120 88 81
Cumbria 105 100 108 122
Derbyshire 140 130 110 100
Devon and Cornwall 116 140 151 147
Dorset 76 75 74 72
Durham 108 103 138 144
Essex 209 203 228 217
Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs)
1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Gloucestershire 71 85 82 84
Greater Manchester 181 186 209 182
Hampshire 110 104 106 112
Hertfordshire 48 43 42 41
Humberside 110 104 90 102
Kent 147 144 150 150
Lancashire 135 138 132 125
Leicestershire 103 105 104 94
Lincolnshire 73 81 82 85
Merseyside 160 119 147 165
Metropolitan 2,013 1,915 2,035 1,523
Norfolk 117 99 98 102
Northamptonshire 83 95 92 92
Northumbria 166 160 173 126
North Yorkshire 142 134 108 95
Nottinghamshire 125 126 128 129
South Yorkshire 162 125 110 108
Staffordshire 84 80 78 86
Suffolk 65 70 82 96
Surrey 76 79 76 61
Sussex 142 149 180 146
Thames Valley 180 175 185 194
Warwickshire 56 50 41 38
West Mercia 160 153 155 159
West Midlands 87 87 88 95
West Yorkshire 156 150 131 114
Wiltshire 165 145 134 105
Dyfed Powys 58 57 70 71
Gwent 54 55 70 59
North Wales 71 70 72 90
South Wales 150 154 134 176
Number of operations involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)
1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Total 2,423 5,523 8,060 7,510
Avon and Somerset 90 200 247 121
Bedfordshire 0 239 309 285
Cambridgeshire 27 15 23 19
Cheshire 76 180 240 166
Cleveland 89 465 1,014 157
City of London 0 23 25 0
Cumbria 19 44 64 43
Derbyshire 58 53 97 99
Devon and Cornwall 0 21 77 58
Dorset 25 22 28 50
Durham 27 38 62 85
Essex 165 155 218 180
Gloucestershire 0 10 13 48
Greater Manchester 69 6 2— 56
Hampshire 156 159 208 170
Hertfordshire 37 20 35 25
Humberside 6 35 284 437
Kent 47 42 208 212
Lancashire 48 187 320 321
Leicestershire 50 101 126 68
Lincolnshire 45 21 39 34
Merseyside 73 239 618 559
Metropolitan 3— 1,025 790 954
Norfolk 36 80 152 117
Northamptonshire 21 3 20 29
Northumbria 310 325 715 515
North Yorkshire 0 0 13 52
Nottinghamshire 40 44 66 1256
South Yorkshire 140 171 129 252
Staffordshire 3 70 235 206
Suffolk 113 117 120 135
Surrey 25 47 52 76
Sussex 304 413 173 284
Number of operations involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)
1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Thames Valley 6 73 164 184
Warwickshire 22 54 91 127
West Mercia 26 39 77 98
West Midlands 58 98 103 102
West Yorkshire 173 587 584 586
Wiltshire 13 1 23 21
Dyfed Powys 9 6 12 19
Gwent 9 39 58 47
North Wales 0 14 173 260
South Wales 8 42 55 97
1 These forces have amended their arrangements for counting ARV deployment to incidents
2 No figures available
3 Not known