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http://www.news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=33422003
Police cleared to shoot twice a week
BY JANE HAMILTON CRIME REPORTER
ARMED police are being forced to draw their weapons twice a week in Edinburgh after a dramatic rise in the number of gun scares on the city’s streets.
Police chiefs have given the order for armed officers to pull their guns three times more often in the last nine months than in the year before.
The order for police marksmen to prepare to fire is only given when senior officers believe lives are at risk. But growing problems with guns being used in the city and people brandishing fake weapons have led to the order being given 76 times since April 1 last year, compared with just 25 occasions in the same period of the previous year.
The latest figures released by Lothian and Borders Police come the day after the Government revealed crimes involving firearms rose 35 per cent last year in England and Wales.
And that comes amid concern about a rise in firearms incidents in Scotland.
The most recent statistics, published in September, showed a ten per cent increase in firearms offences.
Although crime involving many of the most dangerous weapons, such as shotguns, rifles, pistols and air guns, decreased last year in line with an overall ten-year decline, there was a 40 per cent rise in offences involving other types of firearms.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said these were mostly less powerful firearms such as starting pistols.
Soaring gun crime will be the focus of a meeting of ministers, police, customs officials and lawyers today hosted by Home Secretary David Blunkett.
The increase has reinforced calls for tighter firearms laws following the New Year’s Eve murder of two teenage girls, cut down in the crossfire of a suspected gangland war.
Today, Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood reiterated his warning that someone will soon be killed if the trend continues.
"Guns, both real and fake, represent a growing menace on the streets of Edinburgh," he said.
"More and more young people, who tend to be in their late teens or early 20s, are carrying guns because they think it is cool. They are becoming a very dangerous fashion accessory.
"Giving the order for armed officers to draw their weapons is only done where it is agreed a very real threat exists for the safety of officers or the public. Someone, somewhere and soon, is going to be shot in possession of one of these weapons, whether they are real or fake."
Incidents include the arrest of a 32-year-old man after a three-hour gun alert in the city centre last month. Police were called to a block of flats in Morrison Street after reports of a man poking what looked like a gun through the letterbox of a second-floor flat.
No-one was hurt and a report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.
In September, a woman’s screams and reports of a man firing a gun out of a window sparked a siege at a flat on Barony Street, near Broughton Street.
One man was charged with breach of the peace.
The figures also showed three guns a day were recovered by the force last year. More than 960 weapons, including air rifles, pistols and shotguns, and ammunition were surrendered during an amnesty by the force or seized at incidents.
During the first five months of last year, the armed response unit of Lothian and Borders Police attended 65 incidents and recovered 24 air weapons and imitation guns.
Beat officers recovered a further 77 air weapons.
The figures were revealed as Mr Blunkett announced he is to make the carrying of replica weapons and air rifles illegal. Under the plans, police will have the powers to arrest anyone carrying fake guns or air weapons in public without good reason.
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz, who backed a campaign to tighten gun laws, hailed the plans, saying: " The figures today show that we need to take gun crime seriously."
Police cleared to shoot twice a week
BY JANE HAMILTON CRIME REPORTER
ARMED police are being forced to draw their weapons twice a week in Edinburgh after a dramatic rise in the number of gun scares on the city’s streets.
Police chiefs have given the order for armed officers to pull their guns three times more often in the last nine months than in the year before.
The order for police marksmen to prepare to fire is only given when senior officers believe lives are at risk. But growing problems with guns being used in the city and people brandishing fake weapons have led to the order being given 76 times since April 1 last year, compared with just 25 occasions in the same period of the previous year.
The latest figures released by Lothian and Borders Police come the day after the Government revealed crimes involving firearms rose 35 per cent last year in England and Wales.
And that comes amid concern about a rise in firearms incidents in Scotland.
The most recent statistics, published in September, showed a ten per cent increase in firearms offences.
Although crime involving many of the most dangerous weapons, such as shotguns, rifles, pistols and air guns, decreased last year in line with an overall ten-year decline, there was a 40 per cent rise in offences involving other types of firearms.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said these were mostly less powerful firearms such as starting pistols.
Soaring gun crime will be the focus of a meeting of ministers, police, customs officials and lawyers today hosted by Home Secretary David Blunkett.
The increase has reinforced calls for tighter firearms laws following the New Year’s Eve murder of two teenage girls, cut down in the crossfire of a suspected gangland war.
Today, Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood reiterated his warning that someone will soon be killed if the trend continues.
"Guns, both real and fake, represent a growing menace on the streets of Edinburgh," he said.
"More and more young people, who tend to be in their late teens or early 20s, are carrying guns because they think it is cool. They are becoming a very dangerous fashion accessory.
"Giving the order for armed officers to draw their weapons is only done where it is agreed a very real threat exists for the safety of officers or the public. Someone, somewhere and soon, is going to be shot in possession of one of these weapons, whether they are real or fake."
Incidents include the arrest of a 32-year-old man after a three-hour gun alert in the city centre last month. Police were called to a block of flats in Morrison Street after reports of a man poking what looked like a gun through the letterbox of a second-floor flat.
No-one was hurt and a report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.
In September, a woman’s screams and reports of a man firing a gun out of a window sparked a siege at a flat on Barony Street, near Broughton Street.
One man was charged with breach of the peace.
The figures also showed three guns a day were recovered by the force last year. More than 960 weapons, including air rifles, pistols and shotguns, and ammunition were surrendered during an amnesty by the force or seized at incidents.
During the first five months of last year, the armed response unit of Lothian and Borders Police attended 65 incidents and recovered 24 air weapons and imitation guns.
Beat officers recovered a further 77 air weapons.
The figures were revealed as Mr Blunkett announced he is to make the carrying of replica weapons and air rifles illegal. Under the plans, police will have the powers to arrest anyone carrying fake guns or air weapons in public without good reason.
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz, who backed a campaign to tighten gun laws, hailed the plans, saying: " The figures today show that we need to take gun crime seriously."