Debate: Firearms (England and Wales 2010-11) - 12th Jul 2012

Independent Safeguarding Authority

Firearms (England and Wales 2010-11)

Lord Herbert of South Downs Excerpts

UK Border Agency

Thursday 12th July 2012

(12 years, 4 months ago)

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The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert)

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The latest figures from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 show that:

The number of police operations in which firearms were authorised was 17,209—a decrease of 1,347 (7%) on the previous year.

The number of authorised firearms officers (AFO’s) was 6,653—a decrease of 326 (5%) officers overall on the previous year.

The number of operations involving armed response vehicles was 13,346—a decrease of 743 (6%) on the previous year.

The Police discharged a conventional firearm in three incidents (down from six incidents in 2009-10).

Full details are set out in the tables below:

*Table 1 – Number of Operations in which Firearms were Authorised.*
Year
	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
AVON & SOMERSET	262	311	333	247	285	328	339	267	250
BEDFORDSHIRE	301	442	475	575	663	1,217	1,229	869	1,047
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	57	104	241	201	207	316	460	490	402
CHESHIRE	451	397	358	367	340	317	269	314	244
CLEVELAND	170	453	530	657	293	577	667	430	581
CITY OF LONDON	131	364	404	323	239	365	63	38	64
CUMBRIA	77	72	152	112	92	92	86	80	109
DERBYSHIRE	401	369	287	305	223	211	310	198	179
DEVON & CORNWALL	96	112	71	84	80	143	170	185	189
DORSET	193	231	223	263	354	258	369	351	242
DURHAM	83	156	144	291	340	206	181	140	205
ESSEX	312	275	296	432	245	529	529	444	384
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	185	127	176	229	280	162	132	175	133
GTR MANCHESTER	518	507	461	478	481	497	524	415	360
HAMPSHIRE	162	208	237	289	352	382	362	292	360
HERTFORDSHIRE	172	195	185	187	280	303	343	205	334
HUMBERSIDE	187	183	206	362	235	209	123	133	166
KENT	137	207	163	219	170	202	280	275	213
LANCASHIRE	238	318	241	240	410	388	281	245	169
LEICESTERSHIRE	268	295	260	363	334	318	347	280	196
LINCOLNSHIRE	392	386	294	220	157	158	133	73	97
MERSEYSIDE	628	751	733	669	727	829	556	701	663
METROPOLITAN	3,199	3,563	2,964	4,711	3,878	4,948	5,044	5,534	4,672
NORFOLK	200	178	195	175	153	174	274	192	252
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	138	148	158	137	156	159	120	109	129
NORTHUMBRIA	1,275	1,140	977	611	332	229	154	156	167
NORTH YORKSHIRE	100	147	185	183	282	329	289	272	228
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	452	459	408	394	289	270	245	194	279
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	463	484	546	749	737	628	538	533	434
STAFFORDSHIRE	281	255	216	171	250	244	209	183	231
SUFFOLK	270	251	153	202	256	193	237	225	227
SURREY	247	203	151	222	222	375	479	188	162
SUSSEX	204	280	187	190	201	331	331	227	205
THAMES VALLEY	167	195	289	427	264	293	344	319	257
WARWICKSHIRE	149	164	124	180	162	150	145	129	93
WEST MERCIA	91	197	162	122	155	202	171	122	98
WEST MIDLANDS¹	902	1,377	1,264	1,044	1,557	1,063	1,109	933	750
WEST YORKSHIRE	604	575	853	1,335	1,272	1,130	1,367	1,512	1,344
WILTSHIRE	58	63	88	139	226	128	158	152	86
DYFED POWYS	29	28	51	63	72	155	92	71	91
GWENT	37	40	81	94	133	334	152	151	139
NORTH WALES	259	197	223	350	340	259	185	126	182
SOUTH WALES	281	250	236	279	308	293	555	628	596
TOTAL	14,827	16,657	15,981	18,891	18,032	19,894	19,951	18,556	17,209

*Table 2 – Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs)*
Year
	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
AVON & SOMERSET	84	122	118	117	103	123	127	124	129
BEDFORDSHIRE	53	58	56	59	57	53	50	54	55
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	71	60	60	50	46	49	51	45	46
CHESHIRE	89	75	76	73	80	72	88	95	87
CLEVELAND	80	95	100	100	105	97	83	72	74
CITY OF LONDON	72	86	89	86	45	49	50	51	53
CUMBRIA	87	89	90	89	90	97	86	91	92
DERBYSHIRE	69	70	74	75	69	61	61	71	65
DEVON & CORNWALL	115	132	123	122	132	142	146	157	146
DORSET	59	60	64	62	67	71	79	65	62
DURHAM	102	97	103	100	102	89	82	81	70
ESSEX	184	186	202	205	220	225	223	223	207
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	80	82	93	92	94	95	97	108	102
GTR MANCHESTER	202	205	187	245	217	250	296	237	227
HAMPSHIRE	94	94	92	97	83	85	93	96	87
HERTFORDSHIRE	47	50	53	52	49	53	50	46	47
HUMBERSIDE	96	96	101	92	83	87	80	77	72
KENT	93	90	94	94	98	87	110	103	97
LANCASHIRE	129	122	115	123	103	143	105	94	92
LEICESTERSHIRE	68	51	53	59	67	64	73	76	71
LINCOLNSHIRE	87	78	86	87	75	77	69	60	71
MERSEYSIDE	84	94	93	129	139	153	154	141	127
METROPOLITAN	1,823	2,060	2,134	2,331	2,584	2,530	2,740	2,856	2,665
NORFOLK	109	114	125	119	127	114	106	111	112
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	56	52	50	56	59	53	50	55	50
NORTHUMBRIA	99	90	93	98	92	96	95	102	96
NORTH YORKSHIRE	64	60	56	78	67	67	63	64	72
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	131	138	138	149	146	137	133	91	98
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	100	98	122	116	118	106	99	102	86
STAFFORDSHIRE	63	67	76	70	82	82	75	85	81
SUFFOLK	80	96	88	84	78	74	67	68	79
SURREY	48	53	49	51	45	54	54	60	56
SUSSEX	141	134	130	129	129	123	123	114	129
THAMES VALLEY	180	172	176	180	186	180	180	193	194
WARWICKSHIRE	51	46	53	55	59	63	66	76	60
WEST MERCIA²	131	139	141	152	133	163	137	115	132
WEST MIDLANDS	110	124	134	145	175	177	165	180	167
WEST YORKSHIRE	132	140	130	150	148	147	135	156	140
WILTSHIRE	78	80	74	72	69	67	74	69	65
DYFED POWYS	62	58	79	68	72	67	63	64	72
GWENT	60	71	74	86	64	63	54	61	59
NORTH WALES	75	73	65	57	56	57	53	76	57
SOUTH WALES	125	139	134	130	115	138	121	114	104
TOTAL	5,763	6,096	6,243	6,584	6,728	6,780	6,868	6,979	6,653

*Table 3 – Number of Operations Involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)*
	Year
	2002/3	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	2010/11
AVON & SOMERSET	215	249	312	167	192	292	231	137	135
BEDFORDSHIRE	269	414	419	534	639	1,171	1,188	819	991
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	45	155	172	160	172	221	366	393	307
CHESHIRE³	337	356	773	807	793	642	221		244
CLEVELAND	63	86	154	285	290	554	661	426	481
CITY OF LONDON	131	364	275	234	183	200	63	32	63
CUMBRIA	45	65	134	90	72	74	56	51	75
DERBYSHIRE	363	312	254	257	183	187	252	169	141
DEVON & CORNWALL	32	94	54	54	76	120	138	168	174
DORSET	180	215	195	246	322	238	347	349	200
DURHAM	66	96	91	256	204	192	164	140	204
ESSEX	176	138	138	155	224	226	391	273	187
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	166	109	121	145	213	147	120	100	78
GTR MANCHESTER	406	440	364	306	214	196	460	292	288
HAMPSHIRE	108	128	167	178	270	271	247	194	312
HERTFORDSHIRE	129	157	155	160	226	262	311	182	286
HUMBERSIDE	170	158	184	335	232	183	94	111	115
KENT	132	193	124	183	373	364	325	227	203
LANCASHIRE	185	273	228	232	383	313	279	239	166
LEICESTERSHIRE	232	269	232	328	313	268	332	263	180
LINCOLNSHIRE	367	355	276	210	147	153	128	63	89
MERSEYSIDE	547	687	677	611	644	734	445	631	491
METROPOLITAN	2,447	2,423	2,322	2,572	2,770	2,303	3,283	3,563	2,912
NORFOLK	186	169	163	149	133	165	252	176	217
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	90	99	89	101	119	127	117	88	104
NORTHUMBRIA	1,204	1,063	893	585	299	199	129	134	112
NORTH YORKSHIRE	67	110	144	208	268	318	287	267	210
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	397	404	336	342	256	246	197	175	220
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	280	322	438	632	522	493	387	325	307
STAFFORDSHIRE	241	212	183	154	222	231	192	155	224
SUFFOLK	160	194	119	149	204	148	206	189	166
SURREY	240	190	140	204	209	380	469	174	155
SUSSEX	171	250	163	162	165	311	248	177	175
THAMES VALLEY	167	179	265	355	227	254	292	272	225
WARWICKSHIRE	31	138	102	144	121	113	100	92	73
WEST MERCIA	111	241	152	94	120	121	128	148	93
WEST MIDLANDS¹	592	975	952	745	518	716	739	689	597
WEST YORKSHIRE	565	543	656	1,040	1,048	1,098	1,361	1,203	1,163
WILTSHIRE	39	28	54	124	190	359	499	120	49
DYFED POWYS	29	28	48	55	72	135	80	59	71
GWENT	16	23	74	85	109	257	138	147	131
NORTH WALES	198	153	180	299	295	221	156	107	165
SOUTH WALES	253	161	165	223	283	222	485	570	567
TOTAL	11,848	13,218	13,137	14,355	14,515	15,425	16,564	14,089	13,346

*Table 4 – Number of Incidents where Conventional Firearms were Discharged*
Year
	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
Incidents	10	4	5	9	3	7	5	6	3
% of incidents compared with number of authorised operations	0.067	0.024	0.031	0.048	0.017	0.033	0.025	0.032	0.00017

Source: Association of Chief Police Officers

(Does not include discharges for animal destruction or during police training)

Notes for tables:

1. Revised figure for 2007/08 from West Midlands Police.

2. Revised figure for 2008/09 from West Mercia Constabulary.

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

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 as at 31 March 2011.