INJURIES BY FIREARMS TO POLICE OFFICERS ON DUTY

The recent statement by Shadow Home Office minister David Ruffley that there had been a 60% rise in four years in the number of police officers in England and Wales shot on duty has prompted GCN to look again at the data.  Ruffley had used the figures to claim that the Government was failing "to tackle the scourge of gun crime" (Press Association, 11 May 2008).  But as with the other recent Tory claim that gun crime is "rising unabated" (see GCN Comment) this reflects a very distorted interpretation of the available data.

 

Before making sweeping statements it is essential not only to look at all the recent data but also to read what was said by the authors of the Home Office reports from which the data were taken.

 

The data since 1992 are given below, and it is worth noting the following:

• The authors of the reports warned, no doubt because the numbers are so small, that volatility from year to year is to be expected.

• The authors noted that of the "firearms" used to injure police officers while on duty in 2006/07 CS gas sprays accounted for ten out of 21 or 48% of the total.  Whilst not diminishing the seriousness of the incidents it would appear that the officers were not "shot", but these injuries have to be included because CS gas sprays are classified as firearms.

• The number of police officers seriously injured (a serious injury is one which necessitated detention in hospital or involved fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds) remained low at 3 in 2006/07.

• A case could be made for saying that during the 16 years covered by the data the worst two years for serious injuries to police officers were 1994, when there were twelve serious injuries out of a total of 21, and 1995, when there was one fatality together with ten serious injuries out of a total of 15.

 

It is certainly essential for the Opposition to scrutinise Government policy on gun crime and to criticise it whenever appropriate, but this should not be done on the basis of these cherry picked statistics.

Crimes Recorded by the Police in which a Police Officer on Duty was Injured by a Firearm (excluding Air Weapons) in England and Wales

data from The Home Office: 2008 Report and 2006 Report