Scottish police fire weapons 34 times in seven years

Published on 25/09/2006 00:53

SCOTTISH police have opened fire 34 times at emergency incidents during the last seven years, new figures revealed yesterday.

Officers in Central Scotland have discharged their weapons at incidents 12 times, while armed officers in Grampian and Tayside have not fired their weapons in response to a perceived threat since 1999.

There have been nine firearms discharges in Strathclyde, six in Lothian and Borders, five in Dumfries and Galloway, and one each in Northern and Fife constabularies' areas.

Officers are governed by the firearms manual. Its central concept is "proportionality", that the response used by police has to be proportionate to the perceived threat.

Strathclyde Police has 227 armed police officers and Grampian Police 111.

Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP, obtained the figures from Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister. Ms Grahame said: "The picture across Scotland is pretty patchy and the justice minister should perhaps consider commissioning some detailed research to understand why this is the case."