Debate: Firearms (England and Wales)

Taser Statistics

Firearms (England and Wales)

Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures

Thursday 27th March 2014

(10 years, 9 months ago)

Written Statements

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The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green)

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I am today publishing statistics on police use of firearms in England and Wales for the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013. These show that:

The number of police operations in which firearms were authorised was 10,996—a decrease of 1,554 (14.1 %) on the previous year.

The number of authorised firearms officers (AFO’s) was 6,091—a decrease of 665 (10.9%) officers overall on the previous year.

The number of operations involving armed response vehicles was 13,116—a decrease of 1,145 (8.7%) on the previous year.

The police discharged a conventional firearm in three incidents—down from 5 incidents in 2011-12.

Full details are set out in the following tables.

*Table 1: Number of Operations in which Firearms were Authorised*
	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13
AVON & SOMERSET	311	333	247	285	328	339	267	250	193	239
BEDFORDSHIRE	442	475	575	663	1,217	1,229	869	1,047	783	428
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	104	241	201	207	316	460	490	402	347	352
CHESHIRE	397	358	367	340	317	269	314	244	226	175
CLEVELAND	453	530	657	293	577	667	430	581	489	208
CITY OF LONDON	364	404	323	239	365	63	38	64	64	52
CUMBRIA	72	152	112	92	92	86	80	109	67	93
DERBYSHIRE	369	287	305	223	211	310	198	179	190	204
DEVON & CORNWALL	112	71	84	80	143	170	185	189	163	151
DORSET	231	223	263	354	258	369	351	242	194	188
DURHAM	156	144	291	340	206	181	140	205	202	201
ESSEX	275	296	432	245	529	529	444	384	402	584
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	127	176	229	280	162	132	175	133	160	21
GTR MANCHESTER	507	461	478	481	497	524	415	360	414	472
HAMPSHIRE	208	237	289	352	382	362	292	360	487	291
HERTFORDSHIRE	195	185	187	280	303	343	205	334	247	47
HUMBERSIDE	183	206	362	235	209	123	133	166	99	85
KENT	207	163	219	170	202	280	275	213	168	222
LANCASHIRE	318	241	240	410	388	281	245	169	113	93
LEICESTERSHIRE	295	260	363	334	318	347	280	196	217	209
LINCOLNSHIRE	386	294	220	157	158	133	73	97	134	84
MERSEYSIDE	751	733	669	727	829	556	701	663	708	754
METROPOLITAN¹	3,563	2,964	4,711	3,878	4,948	2,029	1,971	1,661	1,303	1,136
NORFOLK	178	195	175	153	174	274	192	252	219	133
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	148	158	137	156	159	120	109	129	182	159
NORTHUMBRIA	1,140	977	611	332	229	154	156	167	150	204
NORTH YORKSHIRE	147	185	183	282	329	289	272	228	280	283
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	459	408	394	289	270	245	194	279	303	276
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	484	546	749	737	628	538	533	434	384	362
STAFFORDSHIRE	255	216	171	250	244	209	183	231	201	160
SUFFOLK	251	153	202	256	193	237	225	227	280	227
SURREY	203	151	222	222	375	479	188	162	141	180
SUSSEX	280	187	190	201	331	331	227	205	247	180
THAMES VALLEY	195	289	427	264	293	344	319	257	326	295
WARWICKSHIRE	164	124	180	162	150	145	129	93	101	72
WEST MERCIA	197	162	122	155	202	171	122	98	114	136
WEST MIDLANDS	1,377	1,264	1,044	1,557	1,063	1,109	933	750	641	791
WEST YORKSHIRE²	575	853	1,335	1,245	831	887	737	641	450	437
WILTSHIRE	63	88	139	226	128	158	152	86	87	91
DYFED POWYS	28	51	63	72	155	92	71	91	292	109
GWENT	40	81	94	133	334	152	151	139	197	133
NORTH WALES	197	223	350	340	259	185	126	182	186	113
SOUTH WALES³	250	236	279	308	293	555	628	597	399	366
TOTAL	16,657	15,981	18,891	18,005	19,595	16,456	14,218	13,496	12,550	10,996

*Table 2: Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs)*
	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13
AVON & SOMERSET	122	118	117	103	123	127	124	129	120	110
BEDFORDSHIRE	58	56	59	57	53	50	54	55	55	61
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	60	60	50	46	49	51	45	46	49	37
CHESHIRE	75	76	73	80	72	88	95	87	80	68
CLEVELAND	95	100	100	105	97	83	72	74	64	62
CITY OF LONDON	86	89	86	45	49	50	51	53	52	45
CUMBRIA	89	90	89	90	97	86	91	92	91	87
DERBYSHIRE	70	74	75	69	61	61	71	65	60	61
DEVON & CORNWALL	132	123	122	132	142	146	157	146	147	138
DORSET	60	64	62	67	71	79	65	62	58	53
DURHAM	97	103	100	102	89	82	81	70	67	65
ESSEX	186	202	205	220	225	223	223	207	202	198
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	82	93	92	94	95	97	108	102	97	87
GTR MANCHESTER	205	187	245	217	250	296	237	227	236	227
HAMPSHIRE	94	92	97	83	85	93	96	87	92	80
HERTFORDSHIRE	50	53	52	49	53	50	46	47	45	39
HUMBERSIDE	96	101	92	83	87	80	77	72	77	68
KENT	90	94	94	98	87	110	103	97	101	94
LANCASHIRE	122	115	123	103	143	105	94	92	95	91
LEICESTERSHIRE	51	53	59	67	64	73	76	71	78	68
LINCOLNSHIRE	78	86	87	75	77	69	60	71	62	61
MERSEYSIDE	94	93	129	139	153	154	141	127	122	120
METROPOLITAN	2,060	2,134	2,331	2,584	2,530	2,740	2,856	2,665	2,731	2,314
NORFOLK	114	125	119	127	114	106	111	112	125	104
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	52	50	56	59	53	50	55	50	55	48
NORTHUMBRIA	90	93	98	92	96	95	102	96	95	98
NORTH YORKSHIRE	60	56	78	67	67	63	64	72	77	70
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	138	138	149	146	137	133	91	98	92	81
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	98	122	116	118	106	99	102	86	98	93
STAFFORDSHIRE	67	76	70	82	82	75	85	81	88	80
SUFFOLK	96	88	84	78	74	67	68	79	67	59
SURREY	53	49	51	45	54	54	60	56	54	50
SUSSEX	134	130	129	129	123	123	114	129	129	126
THAMES VALLEY	172	176	180	186	180	180	193	194	199	194
WARWICKSHIRE	46	53	55	59	63	66	76	60	62	42
WEST MERCIA	139	141	152	133	163	137	115	132	134	127
WEST MIDLANDS	124	134	145	175	177	165	180	167	156	158
WEST YORKSHIRE	140	130	150	148	147	135	156	140	156	151
WILTSHIRE	80	74	72	69	67	74	69	65	70	74
DYFED POWYS	58	79	68	72	67	63	64	72	79	72
GWENT	71	74	86	64	63	54	61	59	59	56
NORTH WALES	73	65	57	56	57	53	76	57	80	72
SOUTH WALES	139	134	130	115	138	121	114	104	100	102
TOTAL	6,096	6,243	6,584	6,728	6,780	6,906	6,979	6,653	6,756	6,091

*Table 3: Number of Operations Involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)*
	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13
AVON & SOMERSET	249	312	167	192	292	231	137	135	146	180
BEDFORDSHIRE	414	419	534	639	1,171	1,188	819	991	739	383
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	155	172	160	172	221	366	393	307	256	281
CHESHIRE⁴	356	773	807	793	642	221		244	226	175
CLEVELAND⁵	86	154	285	290	554	661	426	481		233
CITY OF LONDON	364	275	234	183	200	63	32	63	64	51
CUMBRIA	65	134	90	72	74	56	51	75	50	63
DERBYSHIRE	312	254	257	183	187	252	169	141	152	168
DEVON & CORNWALL	94	54	54	76	120	138	168	174	154	135
DORSET	215	195	246	322	238	347	349	200	148	145
DURHAM	96	91	256	204	192	164	140	204	193	192
ESSEX	138	138	155	224	226	391	273	187	277	443
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	109	121	145	213	147	120	100	78	104	115
GTR MANCHESTER	440	364	306	214	196	460	292	288	290	323
HAMPSHIRE	128	167	178	270	271	247	194	312	427	279
HERTFORDSHIRE	157	155	160	226	262	311	182	286	206	167
HUMBERSIDE	158	184	335	232	183	94	111	115	85	73
KENT	193	124	183	373	364	325	227	203	134	189
LANCASHIRE	273	228	232	383	313	279	239	166	109	76
LEICESTERSHIRE	269	232	328	313	268	332	263	180	209	197
LINCOLNSHIRE	355	276	210	147	153	128	63	89	124	76
MERSEYSIDE	687	677	611	644	734	445	631	491	584	645
METROPOLITAN⁶	2,423	2,322	2,572	2,770	2,303	7,374	7,295	6,009	4,696	4,289
NORFOLK	169	163	149	133	165	252	176	217	183	95
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	99	89	101	119	127	117	88	104	159	138
NORTHUMBRIA	1,063	893	585	299	199	129	134	112	103	108
NORTH YORKSHIRE	110	144	208	268	318	287	267	210	265	268
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	404	336	342	256	246	197	175	220	239	215
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	322	438	632	522	493	387	325	307	259	308
STAFFORDSHIRE	212	183	154	222	231	192	155	224	153	114
SUFFOLK	194	119	149	204	148	206	189	166	207	161
SURREY	190	140	204	209	380	469	174	155	137	161
SUSSEX	250	163	162	165	311	248	177	175	108	148
THAMES VALLEY	179	265	355	227	254	292	272	225	291	264
WARWICKSHIRE	138	102	144	121	113	100	92	73	71	46
WEST MERCIA	241	152	94	120	121	128	148	93	108	100
WEST MIDLANDS	975	952	745	518	716	739	689	597	451	610
WEST YORKSHIRE⁷	543	656	1,040	1,060	645	634	450	412	347	333
WILTSHIRE	28	54	124	190	359	499	120	49	61	72
DYFED POWYS	28	48	55	72	135	80	59	71	199	481
GWENT	23	74	85	109	257	138	147	131	101	133
NORTH WALES	153	180	299	295	221	156	107	165	166	97
SOUTH WALES⁸	161	165	223	283	222	485	570	1,649	1,280	386
TOTAL	13,218	13,137	14,355	14,527	14,972	19,928	17,068	16,774	14,261	13,116

*Table 4: Number of Incidents where Conventional Firearms were Discharged*
	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	2010/11⁹	2011/12	2012/13
Number of INCIDENTS	4	5	9	3	7	5	6	4	5	3
% OF INCIDENTS COMPARED WITH NUMBER OF AUTHORISED OPERATIONS	0.024	0.031	0.048	0.017	0.036	0.030	0.042	0.030	0.040	0.027

Source: Association of Chief Police Officers (Does not include discharges for animal destruction or during police training).

Notes for tables:

1. Revised figures supplied for 2008/09 to 2011/12 by Metropolitan Police Service.

2. Revised figures supplied for 2006/7 to 2011 /12 by West Yorkshire Police.

3. Revised figures supplied for 2010/11 by South Wales Police.

4. Cheshire did not record ARV operations for 2009/10.

5. Cleveland did not record ARV operations for 2011/12.

6. Revised figures supplied for 2011/12 by Metropolitan Police Service.

7. Revised figures supplied for 2006/7 to 2011/12 by West Yorkshire Police.

8. Revised figures supplied for 2010/11 to 2011/12 by South Wales Police.

9. Revised firearms discharge figure for 2010/11.

Source: Home Office Public Order Unit, based on information aggregated from figures provided by individual police forces as part of the Home Office annual data requirement. This was followed by a further quality assurance process involving the Home Office asking individual forces to verify and sign off their figures.

The information provided is a regular annual update of figures previously published and available on the Home Office website here:

http://tna.europarchive.org/20100419081706/http:/www.police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/firearms/index.html.

Home Office guidance to forces for providing these figures is contained within the booklet “Annual Data Requirement, Police Personnel and Performance Data, Notes for Guidance”. For the purpose of this statistical return AFOs are deemed to be deployed when “they are required to conduct a specific task during which their possession of a firearm (with appropriate authorisation) is a required element” (Chapter 3, paragraph 3.1 “ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms”).

In addition to the total number of operations, a further sub-category is required regarding those operations where the initial or sole response is by armed response vehicle (ARV).

Each incident will be classed as only one operation regardless of the number of personnel/deployments or tactics employed to deal with the incident.

Deployments also include those incidents where AFOs “self-authorise”.

The number of officers authorised to use firearms is at 31 March 2013.