Updated Firearms Numbers
- Andy Oldham
- May 16
- 2 min read
Some time ago when I introduced my blog series about Armed Policing, I included some statistics about the number of firearms deployments in England and Wales. Those figures have been updated (and are about to be updated again later this summer), so I thought it was worth revisiting them to see what we can learn.
In this post, I quoted these figures:
You may be surprised to learn that there are only around 6,000 armed officers in England and Wales (Scotland has an additional 500 or so).
At the end of March 2024, there were 6,473 officers authorised to carry a firearm in England and Wales. That represents a small, but I would suggest concerning, decrease of 3% (-178). Scotland still has just over 500 armed officers.
In the 12 months to end of March 2023, armed officers were deployed to 18,395 firearms operations. Of those incidents, there were only 10 occasions where firearms were discharged.
The latest figures for the year to end March 2024 show that there were fewer firearms operations - 17,589 (a decrease of 811, or 4%). Just two of those incidents resulted in the police discharging their firearms. That's the lowest figure since 2009.
There are lots of potential reasons within a police force's control of why the number of armed officers has decreased - for example poor morale, lack of support from senior management, difficulties in selection / retention - as well as wider societal reasons which are largely outside of a force's control, such as an aging population leading to increased retirement, and undermining of officers' confidence through relentless media/political criticism. From speaking to police officers as I do, it's also clear that the case of NX121 (you can read about it here) and the perverse decisions by the CPS and IOPC have had an impact.
The reduction in the number of armed deployments is also of note. Armed officers are not only deployed to incidents where firearms are suspected, but often to deal with those armed with bladed weapons, in particular zombie knives and samauri swords. According to the Office of National Statistics, gun crime is generally trending downwards but saw an increase of 6% in the year to March 2024. Knife crime is up by 4%, but still below pre-Covid levels.
Firearms operations are split between spontaneous (something unexpected is happening right now) and planned (where there is intelligence allowing a firearms response to be pre-authorised) and the figures I've seen don't break these down. It may be that there's a greater number of pre-authorised operations meaning fewer spontaneous incidents, hence a reduction in firearms deployments overall - although this is just speculation by me.
I will publish a new blog post when the new figures are out in the summer.
Sources:
