Farewell to arms: Fewer gun police are being deployed in violent areas
Posted on 12/25/2007 11:33:41 PM PST by Stoat
Farewell to arms: Fewer gun police are being deployed in violent areas
The number of firearms officers working in areas where gun crime is soaring has fallen sharply, figures released reveal.
And despite a steep overall rise in firearms-related offences, the total number of weapons-trained officers has dropped.
In gun crime 'hotspots' such as Liverpool and Nottingham there are around 40 per cent fewer armed officers.
The stark contrast between rising gun crime and falling numbers of armed police was highlighted in statistics released by the Home Office in response to Tory parliamentary questions.
The Conservatives warned the drop in firearm officer numbers highlighted the Government's failure to take violent crime seriously.
Between 1997 and 2006,m, the number of authorised firearms officers in England and Wales fell from 6,738 to 6,584, even though there have been increases in overall police numbers.
Yet statistics released by the Home Office show the number of individuals found guilty of possessing weapons rose by 43 per cent from 2001 to 2005.
Over the same period, the number of crimes involving firearms recorded by police rose by 11 per cent, from 10,023 in 2001 to 11,084 in 2005.
The overall drop conceals far greater falls in key areas of cities with some of the country's worst records on gun crime.
On Merseyside, where Liverpool has been ravaged by violence, the number of firearms officers has fallen by 15 per cent, from 147 in 1997 to 129 in 2006.
Yet the same area has recorded a 183 per cent rise in the number of persons found guilty of possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition between 1997 and 2005.
And Merseyside has seen the number of crimes where firearms were used soar by 62 per cent, from 299 in 2002 to 485 in 2006.
A similar picture emerges in Avon and Somerset, where the number of firearms officers has fallen by 29 per cent, from 165 in 1997 to 117 in 2006, while the firearms crimes soared by 62 per cent, from 131 in 2002 to 167.
And in Northamptonshire, another gun crime 'hotspot', the number of firearms officers has fallen by 39 per cent, from 92 in 1997 to 56 in 2006.
Conservative police spokesman David Ruffley said: "Poor ministerial planning means police officers are being thrown into gun hotspots without being properly equipped."
He added: "This is yet further evidence that this Government, despite imposing a ban on handguns and pledging to tackle violent crime, has presided over a steady increase in the everyday use of weapons on Britain's streets."
Umm...actually, it's BECAUSE of the ban on handguns among law-abiding people.
Hopefully our British Friends will figure that out soon...I keep hoping.
"sigh"
Ping
What's left of the traditional British mindset is to calmly keep reading a newspaper article about the upswing in 'knife crime' as you're being stabbed to death in a subway car.
wasn’t too long ago that all that Bobbies needed was a whistle.
NONE of this is true...after all, the UK has BANNED all hand guns so we KNOW that they can not have any crime like this. /sarcasm off
Who’d a thunk?
Himmler’s ghost laughs at the prison brits have made for themselves.
But....but....How can this be? I thought the guns were banned and turned in? Could it be that the criminals didn’t turn in their guns? < / sarcasm >
The inmates are running the asylum. I don’t see any hope for them.
Britons need to remember who they are and throw the scoundrels in power out into the street before there are no Britons left.
And to hell with the victims, they are ONLY honest taxpaying citizens!
If the Islamists wont kill the Brits, then ordinary criminals will.
Merseyside Police has also seen a 42% increase in the number of arrests, up from 40,590 for 2005/2006 to 57,583 in 2006/2007.
The constabulary attributes the drop in its crime rate to its “Total Policing” policy where the force launched a “total war on crime and total support for victims”.
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne said: “Today’s results show that this approach is working.
“Through blitzing crime hotspots across Merseyside, we are creating an environment which makes it harder for criminals to operate.
New tactics
“Through the use of new tactics and the use of innovative technology, crime is reducing.
“We’ve focused very closely on those individuals, we’ve even visited them and told them that we’re going to focus on them, we’ve actually told them that we’ll put them under surveillance.”
The force also said that use of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system has helped to slash crime along with trackable satellite navigation systems and the launch of the anti-social behaviour taskforce Axis.
It has also seized cash and assets from those involved in criminal activity.
In the end, they’ll both work on culling the herd until there’s nothing left but bone and scraps to fight over between themselves.
cor blimey mate! the bloody libs ‘av bloody takin’ ovah naw
aven’ they? wot we need now is some bloody yank swat teams to com ovah heah an train our lads in vermin control....spot
on that.
Exactly! Hence, this neglect of the people can only go on for so long before a revolution takes place.
Either a mini-revolution via a political sea-change or a maxi-revolution via blood.
Bloody Hell!
Where did THAT come from?
“Conservative police spokesman David Ruffley said: “Poor ministerial planning means police officers are being thrown into gun hotspots without being properly equipped.”
He added: “This is yet further evidence that this Government, despite imposing a ban on handguns and pledging to tackle violent crime, has presided over a steady increase in the everyday use of weapons on Britain’s streets.”
‘twas the Conservatives that all but banned handguns as I well know from 10yrs ago. They can take a hike if they think they’re going to make political capital out of it.
and it was the Daily Mail along with all but one of the rest of the UK press that actively supported the ban.
So MP5s with holosights are NOT the equipment issued to armed LEOs?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.