Security Statistics

Mr. Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now publish the most recent security statistics in the usual form.

The information is as follows:

Statistics on Security

Part I— Statistics of Terrorist Activity

Yearly totals for 1970–1976

Quarterly totals for first three quarters of 1977

Statistics for terrorist activity comprise the following:

(i) Number of shooting incidents;

(ii) Number of explosions;

(iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised;

(iv) Weight of explosives in explosions and bombs neutralised;

(v) Number of malicious fires;

(vi) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen;

(vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC 'R', Army/UDR and civilians (including sectarian and interfactional assassinations).

Part II— Statistics of Security Forces' Activity

Yearly totals for 1970–1976

Quarterly totals for first three quarters of 1977

Statistics for Security Forces' activity comprise the following:

(i) Number of houses searched;

(ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives, and rounds of ammunition found;

(iii) Number of people charged with serious security-type offences: (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, theft, and other offences related to the security situation, (arson, membership of illegal organizations, etc.).

STATISTICS ON SECURITY
PART I
	Yearly figures							1977 Quarterly figures
	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	January to March	April to June	July to September	October to December
Shooting incidents	213	1,756	10,628	5,018	3,206	1,803	1,908	331	330	286	—
Explosions	153	1,022	1,382	978	685	399	766	123	104	33	—
Bombs neutralised	17	493	471	542	428	236	426	71	7	19	—
Weight of explosives (in lbs.)^* In explosions	746	10,972	47,462	47,472	46,435	13,753	17,596	1,645	956	126	—
Neutralised	59	3,001	19,978	32,450	27,094	11,159	16,252	800	500	756	—
Malicious fires†	—	—	—	587	636	248	453	85	77	120	—
Armed robberies†	—	437	1,931	1,215	1,231	1,201	889	164‡	108‡	131	—
Amount stolen		£303,787	£790,687	£612,015	£572,951	£572,105	£445,497	£43,546	£273,965	£60,668	—
Deaths: Civilians†	23	115	322	171	166	216	245	25	24	11	—
(Sectarian and inter-factional assassinations† shown in brackets)			(122)	(87)	(95)	(144)	(121)	(17)	(14)	(7)
Deaths: Army/UDR	0	48	129	66	35	20	29	8	9	8	—
Deaths: RUC/RUC 'R'	2	11	17	13	15	11	23	7	6	1	—
Injuries: Civilians†	—	1,838	3,813	1,812	1,680	2,044	2,162	306	351	229	—
Injuries: Army/UDR	620	390	578	548	483	167	264	52	53	27	—
Injuries: RUC/RUC 'R'	191	315	485	291	235	263	303	22	81	32	—
^* Estimated weight only.
† Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
‡ These totals have been revised.

PART II
			Yearly figures							1977 Quarterly figures
			1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	January to March	April to June	July to September	October to December
Houses searched^*	…	…	3,107	17,262	36,617	74,556	74,914	30,002	34,919	5,481	5,976	5,063	—
Finds: Firearms	…	…	324	717	1,264	1,595	1,260	825	837	153	183	171	—
Finds: Ammunition (Rounds)	…	…	43,095	157,944	183,410	187,399	147,202	73,604	70,306	10,270	23,407	11,586	—
Finds: Explosives (lbs.)	…	…	798	2,748	41,488	38,418	26,120	11,565	21,714	1,268	1,952	374	—
ICOS made	…	…	—	—	75	512	312	11	0	0	0	0	—

PERSONS CHARGED WITH SERIOUS SECURITY-TYPE OFFENCES†
							31st July to 31st December 1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	January to March 1977	April to June 1977	July to September 1977	October to December 1977
Murder	…	…	…	…	…	…	13	71	75	138	120	17	40	52	—
Attempted Murder	…	…	…	…	…	…	16	85	75	88	211	41	33	42	—
Firearms Offences	…	…	…	…	…	…	242	631	544	460	353	71	98	70	—
Explosives Offences	…	…	…	…	…	…	86	236	161	100	215	32	44	33	—
Theft Act	…	…	…	…	…	…	111	186	232	314	188	42	51	58	—
Other	…	…	…	…	…	…	63	205	275	97	279	72	143	108	—
							531	1,414	1,362	1,197	1,276	275	409	363	—
^* Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
† These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

Volume 939: debated on Monday 14 November 1977