winterbadger: (scotland flag)
winterbadger ([personal profile] winterbadger) wrote2006-09-25 03:28 pm
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probably news to no one, but...

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

from the Scotsman, today (http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1414012006) [4.85 incidents per year]

"In the last five years, ... D.C. officers were involved in 640 shooting incidents – 40 more than the Los Angeles Police Department, which has more than double the officers and serves six times the population."

from the Washington Post, 1998 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/dcpolice/deadlyforce/police1page1.htm) [128 incidents per year]

Scotland's population is roughly around 5 million. DC's is roughly around 550,000. So if DC's rate (of 8 years ago) were translated onto a comparably sized population, their officers would be shooting 8,960 times to Scotland's 34.

Of course, DC is a single urban area, compared Scotland, much of which is rural and sparsely inhabited, so that's a bit unfair. But even in Scotland's two largest urban areas, covered by Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde police districts, there were 15 firearms discharge incidents in the seven years of the study [2.14 per year]; Glasgow and Edinburgh have between them about 1 million people, so twice the District's population. And yet DC police use their weapons about 60 times as often as Strathclyde and L&B officers...

[identity profile] darkhorse43.livejournal.com 2006-09-25 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I would say the incidents of the criminals having guns as well would be a lot higher here too. I don't think the police should go after gun toting criminals with billy clubs to keep the statistics down.
wolfette: me with camera (Default)

[personal profile] wolfette 2006-09-25 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
strangely enough with cops not carrying guns, the temptation for most criminals to carry guns is also diminished - they're not likely to have to shoot their way out of a situation.
wolfette: me with camera (Default)

[personal profile] wolfette 2006-09-25 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
to further confuse the issue, guns are actually more common (per capita) out in the rural areas of Scotland - every farmer will have a shotgun for "vermin control", rifles on the big hunting estates, etc.

[identity profile] verdandiweaves.livejournal.com 2006-09-25 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
It all happens round Glasgow. We're fine on the East Coast.