probably news to no one, but...

[winterbadger]

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

Comments

[wolfette]

slightly less than 7 times per year. I'm surprised it's as high as that. Remember that an armed response squad will only be sent when they suspect the perps have firearms.

[winterbadger]

Sorry, LJ appears to have posted for me. :-) See following post for the full comparison.

I realise UK police don't routinely carry firearms. That makes me feel much safer. :-) The Washington Post story included incidents like one in which an off-duty DC police officer shoot an unarmed civilian 11 times after the person attempted to leave the scene of a crime--they had dinged a telephone pole, but they weren't going to get away with that while that officer was around to stop them!