---

17 Jan 2008 : Column 1436W—continued

17 Jan 2008 : Column 1437W

17 Jan 2008 : Column 1438W

N umber of defendants aged 18 years and over who were convicted at all courts for illegally carrying offensive weapons excluding knives, in England and Wales by police force area for the years 1997 to 2006( 1, 2, 3)
Police force area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Avon and Somerset	179	209	213	179	186	214	279	243	252	277
Bedfordshire	57	78	58	67	64	88	109	105	142	116
Cambridgeshire	64	92	79	54	69	86	88	102	101	118
Cheshire	143	123	119	114	91	112	115	119	164	162
City of London	26	15	10	11	18	37	31	33	28	17
Cleveland	68	85	67	81	81	131	133	159	150	160
Cumbria	63	83	68	64	57	64	73	91	91	79
Derbyshire	127	96	128	112	133	131	147	193	183	170
Devon and Cornwall	176	193	180	141	173	208	243	212	232	232
Dorset	44	76	68	72	69	82	92	110	124	96
Durham	85	110	117	122	113	128	126	131	182	154
Essex	195	202	195	181	196	196	211	303	292	279
Gloucestershire	62	80	44	50	65	75	65	82	95	78
Greater Manchester	515	648	543	500	576	580	637	768	750	751
Hampshire	250	244	213	207	212	241	299	317	306	320
Hertfordshire	78	66	88	104	96	114	148	164	193	163
Humberside	134	150	144	120	107	146	171	219	222	197
Kent	156	246	216	192	191	190	185	149	174	154
Lancashire	247	296	236	213	253	251	280	319	321	308
Leicestershire	130	177	147	164	149	169	191	206	210	206
Lincolnshire	90	100	108	92	118	107	111	134	120	116
Merseyside	346	367	277	227	264	344	343	413	432	460
Metropolitan Police	2,359	2,318	1,842	1,920	2,369	3,126	2,899	2,868	2,954	2,814
Norfolk	101	119	113	81	94	127	118	148	149	148
North Yorkshire	108	122	92	79	90	83	88	113	124	100
Northamptonshire	49	68	69	57	37	52	63	66	59	37
Northumbria	318	359	389	324	389	389	388	405	419	421
Nottinghamshire	144	190	158	156	150	191	245	246	257	263
South Yorkshire	177	175	202	183	203	253	276	286	328	287
Staffordshire(3)	107	143	122	(4)—	116	170	166	157	147	194
Suffolk	87	59	82	83	74	92	111	128	130	170
Surrey	52	42	32	55	55	56	71	70	69	72
Sussex	152	147	167	156	166	207	186	188	224	212
Thames Valley	191	189	186	132	169	213	193	233	285	297
Warwickshire	49	55	50	45	41	49	49	69	47	58
West Mercia	104	102	90	78	103	100	125	151	156	209
West Midlands	537	500	462	524	701	751	745	776	710	787
West Yorkshire	267	275	291	229	267	335	331	475	447	402
Wiltshire	48	66	77	70	79	72	72	83	95	107
Dyfed-Powys	69	74	69	64	65	70	84	81	74	53
Gwent	71	84	66	63	60	91	75	108	96	126
North Wales	106	126	113	85	89	115	117	135	147	181
South Wales	223	260	275	235	244	252	271	287	289	294
Total	8,554	9,209	8,265	7,686	8,842	10,488	10,750	11,645	11,970	11,845
(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for defendants proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (4) Nil. Source: Court proceedings database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice Our reference: PQ 176295 (Table 4).

---