Official Statistics

Police use of firearms statistics, England and Wales: April 2014 to March 2015

Published 28 April 2016

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2016

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-use-of-firearms-statistics-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-31-march-2015/police-use-of-firearms-statistics-england-and-wales-april-2014-to-march-2015

1. Introduction

This release contains statistics on police use of firearms from the 43 Home Office police forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2015. It details the total number of:

  • Police firearms operations[footnote 1] including operations involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)
  • Incidents in which police firearms were discharged[footnote 2]
  • Authorised firearms officers[footnote 3]

The User Guide provides additional information on the statistics in this release. It also includes a glossary and sections on data quality and revisions.

The figures in this release can be found in the ‘Police use of firearms, England and Wales, April 2014 – March 2015 tables’.

2. Key facts

  • There were a total of 14,666 police firearms operations in the year ending March 2015. This represents a decrease of 2% (-273) when compared with the previous year.

  • In the year ending March 2015, 84% of firearms operations involved Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs), compared with 81% in the previous year.

  • There were six incidents in which the police discharged firearms in the year ending March 2015, up from two incidents in the previous year.

  • There were 5,647 authorised firearms officers (AFOs) on 31 March 2015, a decrease of 4% (-217) when compared with the previous year.

3. Police firearms operations including operations involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs)

There were 14,666 police firearms operations in the year ending March 2015. This represents a decrease of 2% (-273) when compared with the previous year and a decrease of 37% (-8,515) since the year ending March 2009.

In the year ending March 2015, 12,269 of all firearms operations involved ARVs, an increase of 1% (134) on the previous year and an overall decrease of 35% (-6,605) since the year ending March 2009.

Figure 1 shows that since the year ending March 2009 there has been a consistent downward trend in the overall total for both type of operations. However, in the year ending March 2015, there was a slight increase in the number of operations involving ARVs.

The proportion of operations involving ARVs has remained fairly stable between March 2009 and March 2014 accounting for 80% to 82% of all firearms operations. However, in the year ending March 2015, there was a slight increase of two percentage points to 84% when compared with the previous year.

Figure 1: Police firearms operations including operations involving ARVs, England and Wales, year ending March 2009 to 2015

Not supplied by author

Source: Home Office, ‘Police use of firearms, England and Wales, April 2014 – March 2015 tables’: tables 1 and 2

Note: Percentages have been rounded

4. Incidents in which police firearms were discharged

In the year ending March 2015, there were six incidents in which police discharged firearms. Table 1 shows that the number of incidents has been six or fewer in each of the last seven years.

Table 1: Number of incidents in which police discharged firearms in England and Wales, year ending March 2009 to 2015

Year ending March 2009a March 2010 March 2011 March 2012b March 2013 March 2014 March 2015
Number of incidents 6 6 4 4 3 2 6

Source: National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)

Notes: Includes only the 43 Home Office forces in England and Wales
a. The figure for March 2009 has been revised from 5 to 6 as one incident had previously not been reported to the NPCC.
b. The figure for March 2012 has been revised from 5 to 4 as one incident involved the discharge of a firearm where the primary purpose was for animal destruction.

5. Authorised firearms officers (AFOs)

There were 5,647 AFOs on 31 March 2015. This represents a decrease of 4% (-217) when compared with the previous year and a decrease of 18% (-1,259) from 31 March 2009. As figure 2 shows, the number of AFOs was at its highest on 31 March 2010 (6,976) and has since been on a general downward trend. However, there was a slight increase in the number of AFOs on 31 March 2012.

Figure 2: Authorised firearms officers (AFOs), on 31 March 2009 to 31 March 2015, England and Wales

Not supplied by author

Source: Home Office, ‘Police use of firearms, England and Wales, April 2014 – March 2015 tables’: Table 3.

The ‘Police use of firearms’ release is an Official Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in the Home Office Science Unit in accordance with the Home Office’s ‘Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics’ which covers our policy on revisions and other matters. The Chief Statistician, as Head of Profession, reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters and oversees all Home Office National Statistics products with respect to the Code, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology.

  1. An operation for which the issue of firearms was authorised. ↩

  2. An incident where a conventional firearm was discharged by the police. ↩

  3. An authorised firearms officer is a police officer who has been selected, trained, accredited and authorised by their chief officer to carry and use a firearm. ↩

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