Debate: Police (Firearms) - 9th Jun 2011 - Lord Herbert of South Downs extracts

Immigration

Police (Firearms)

Lord Herbert of South Downs Excerpts

No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron

Thursday 9th June 2011

(12 years, 11 months ago)

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The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert)

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The latest figures on police use of firearms in England and Wales from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 show that:

The number of police operations in which firearms were authorised was 18,556—a decrease of 1,395 (7%) on the previous year.

The number of authorised firearms officers (AFO’s) was 6,979—an increase of 111 (1.6%) officers overall on the previous year.

The number of operations involving armed response vehicles was 14,089—a decrease of 2,475 (15%) on the previous year.

The police discharged a conventional firearm in six incidents (up from five incidents in 2008-09).

Full details are set out in the tables below:

*Table 1- Number of Operations in which Firearms were Authorised*
	Year
	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
AVON & SOMERSET	195	262	311	333	247	285	328	339	267
BEDFORDSHIRE	237	301	442	475	575	663	1,217	1,229	869
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	114	57	104	241	201	207	316	460	490
CHESHIRE	419	451	397	358	367	340	317	269	314
CLEVELAND	37	170	453	530	657	293	577	667	430
CITY OF LONDON	40	131	364	404	323	239	365	63	38
CUMBRIA	71	77	72	152	112	92	92	86	80
DERBYSHIRE	275	401	369	287	305	223	211	310	198
DEVON & CORNWALL	101	96	112	71	84	80	143	170	185
DORSET	184	193	231	223	263	354	258	369	351
DURHAM	89	83	156	144	291	340	206	181	140
ESSEX	323	312	275	296	432	245	529	529	444
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	165	185	127	176	229	280	162	132	175
GTR MANCHESTER	580	518	507	461	478	481	497	524	415
HAMPSHIRE	198	162	208	237	289	352	382	362	292
HERTFORDSHIRE	112	172	195	185	187	280	303	343	205
HUMBERSIDE	297	187	183	206	362	235	209	123	133
KENT	115	137	207	163	219	170	202	280	275
LANCASHIRE	232	238	318	241	240	410	388	281	245
LEICESTERSHIRE	300	268	295	260	363	334	318	347	280
LINCOLNSHIRE	477	392	386	294	220	157	158	133	73
MERSEYSIDE	1,020	628	751	733	669	727	829	556	701
METROPOLITAN	2,447	3,199	3,563	2,964	4,711	3,878	4,948	5,044	5,534
NORFOLK	175	200	178	195	175	153	174	274	192
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	43	138	148	158	137	156	159	120	109
NORTHUMBRIA	1,440	1,275	1,140	977	611	332	229	154	156
NORTH YORKSHIRE	92	100	147	185	183	282	329	289	272
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	384	452	459	408	394	289	270	245	194
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	258	463	484	546	749	737	628	538	533
STAFFORDSHIRE	232	281	255	216	171	250	244	209	183
SUFFOLK	163	270	251	153	202	256	193	237	225
SURREY	245	247	203	151	222	222	375	479	188
SUSSEX	248	204	280	187	190	201	331	331	227
THAMES VALLEY	179	167	195	289	427	264	293	344	319
WARWICKSHIRE	130	149	164	124	180	162	150	145	129
WEST MERCIA	117	91	197	162	122	155	202	171	122
WEST MIDLANDS¹	822	902	1,377	1,264	1,044	1,557	1,063	1,109	933
WEST YORKSHIRE	757	604	575	853	1,335	1,272	1,130	1,367	1,512
WILTSHIRE	45	58	63	88	139	226	128	158	152
DYFED POWYS	28	29	28	51	63	72	155	92	71
GWENT	20	37	40	81	94	133	334	152	151
NORTH WALES	302	259	197	223	350	340	259	185	126
SOUTH WALES	283	281	250	236	279	308	293	555	628
TOTAL	13,991	14,827	16,657	15,981	18,891	18,032	19,894	19,951	18,556

*Table 2 – Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs)*
	Year
	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
AVON & SOMERSET	116	84	122	118	117	103	123	127	124
BEDFORDSHIRE	48	53	58	56	59	57	53	50	54
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	56	71	60	60	50	46	49	51	45
CHESHIRE	81	89	75	76	73	80	72	88	95
CLEVELAND	85	80	95	100	100	105	97	83	72
CITY OF LONDON	73	72	86	89	86	45	49	50	51
CUMBRIA	92	87	89	90	89	90	97	86	91
DERBYSHIRE	80	69	70	74	75	69	61	61	71
DEVON & CORNWALL	108	115	132	123	122	132	142	146	157
DORSET	57	59	60	64	62	67	71	79	65
DURHAM	86	102	97	103	100	102	89	82	81
ESSEX	180	184	186	202	205	220	225	223	223
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	71	80	82	93	92	94	95	97	108
GTR MANCHESTER	219	202	205	187	245	217	250	296	237
HAMPSHIRE	87	94	94	92	97	83	85	93	96
HERTFORDSHIRE	46	47	50	53	52	49	53	50	46
HUMBERSIDE	96	96	96	101	92	83	87	80	77
KENT	113	93	90	94	94	98	87	110	103
LANCASHIRE	138	129	122	115	123	103	143	105	94
LEICESTERSHIRE	69	68	51	53	59	67	64	73	76
LINCOLNSHIRE	91	87	78	86	87	75	77	69	60
MERSEYSIDE	78	84	94	93	129	139	153	154	141
METROPOLITAN	1,805	1,823	2,060	2,134	2,331	2,584	2,530	2,740	2,856
NORFOLK	104	109	114	125	119	127	114	106	111
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	51	56	52	50	56	59	53	50	55
NORTHUMBRIA	125	99	90	93	98	92	96	95	102
NORTH YORKSHIRE	66	64	60	56	78	67	67	63	64
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	136	131	138	138	149	146	137	133	91
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	92	100	98	122	116	118	106	99	102
STAFFORDSHIRE	71	63	67	76	70	82	82	75	85
SUFFOLK	90	80	96	88	84	78	74	67	68
SURREY	62	48	53	49	51	45	54	54	60
SUSSEX	120	141	134	130	129	129	123	123	114
THAMES VALLEY	156	180	172	176	180	186	180	180	193
WARWICKSHIRE	50	51	46	53	55	59	63	66	76
WEST MERCIA²	125	131	139	141	152	133	163	137	115
WEST MIDLANDS	111	110	124	134	145	175	177	165	180
WEST YORKSHIRE	116	132	140	130	150	148	147	135	156
WILTSHIRE	71	78	80	74	72	69	67	74	69
DYFED POWYS	77	62	58	79	68	72	67	63	64
GWENT	57	60	71	74	86	64	63	54	61
NORTH WALES	83	75	73	65	57	56	57	53	76
SOUTH WALES	138	125	139	134	130	115	138	121	114
TOTAL	5,776	5,763	6,096	6,243	6,584	6,728	6,780	6,868	6,979

*Table 3 – Number of Operations Involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)*
Year
	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
AVON & SOMERSET	173	215	249	312	167	192	292	231	137
BEDFORDSHIRE	172	269	414	419	534	639	1,171	1,188	819
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	43	45	155	172	160	172	221	366	393
CHESHIRE³	523	337	356	773	807	793	642	221
CLEVELAND	13	63	86	154	285	290	554	661	426
CITY OF LONDON	39	131	364	275	234	183	200	63	32
CUMBRIA	53	45	65	134	90	72	74	56	51
DERBYSHIRE	253	363	312	254	257	183	187	252	169
DEVON & CORNWALL	76	32	94	54	54	76	120	138	168
DORSET	182	180	215	195	246	322	238	347	349
DURHAM	57	66	96	91	256	204	192	164	140
ESSEX	165	176	138	138	155	224	226	391	273
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	140	166	109	121	145	213	147	120	100
GTR MANCHESTER	528	406	440	364	306	214	196	460	292
HAMPSHIRE	116	108	128	167	178	270	271	247	194
HERTFORDSHIRE	81	129	157	155	160	226	262	311	182
HUMBERSIDE	273	170	158	184	335	232	183	94	111
KENT	89	132	193	124	183	373	364	325	227
LANCASHIRE	192	185	273	228	232	383	313	279	239
LEICESTERSHIRE	292	232	269	232	328	313	268	332	263
LINCOLNSHIRE	470	367	355	276	210	147	153	128	63
MERSEYSIDE	974	547	687	677	611	644	734	445	631
METROPOLITAN	1,667	2,447	2,423	2,322	2,572	2,770	2,303	3,283	3,563
NORFOLK	157	186	169	163	149	133	165	252	176
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	25	90	99	89	101	119	127	117	88
NORTHUMBRIA	1,349	1,204	1,063	893	585	299	199	129	134
NORTH YORKSHIRE	60	67	110	144	208	268	318	287	267
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	333	397	404	336	342	256	246	197	175
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	221	280	322	438	632	522	493	387	325
STAFFORDSHIRE	208	241	212	183	154	222	231	192	155
SUFFOLK	116	160	194	119	149	204	148	206	189
SURREY	225	240	190	140	204	209	380	469	174
SUSSEX	189	171	250	163	162	165	311	248	177
THAMES VALLEY	174	167	179	265	355	227	254	292	272
WARWICKSHIRE	104	31	138	102	144	121	113	100	92
WEST MERCIA	100	111	241	152	94	120	121	128	148
WEST MIDLANDS¹	563	592	975	952	745	518	716	739	689
WEST YORKSHIRE	609	565	543	656	1,040	1,048	1,098	1,361	1,203
WILTSHIRE	43	39	28	54	124	190	359	499	120
DYFED POWYS	28	29	28	48	55	72	135	80	59
GWENT	16	16	23	74	85	109	257	138	147
NORTH WALES	265	198	153	180	299	295	221	156	107
SOUTH WALES	218	253	161	165	223	283	222	485	570
TOTAL	11,574	11,848	13,218	13,137	14,355	14,515	15,425	16,564	14,089

*Table 4 – Number of Incidents where Conventional Firearms were Discharged*
Year
	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
INCIDENTS	11	10	4	5	9	3	7	5	6
% of incidents compared with number of authorised operations	0.079	0.067	0.024	0.031	0.048	0.017	0.033	0.025	0.032
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 2010.