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13 May 2009 : Column 808W—continued

Police: Firearms

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of each rank have been authorised to carry a gun in each region in each of the last 10 years. [273469]

Mr. Coaker: The number of authorised firearms officers in police forces in England and Wales for each year since 1996-97 are shown in the following table.

13 May 2009 : Column 809W

13 May 2009 : Column 810W

Number of authorised firearms officers (AFOS)
	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999- 20 00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Total	6,738	6,585	6,308	6,262	6,064	5,776	5,763	6,096	6,243	6,584	6,728	6,780
Avon and Somerset	165	161	153	150	135	116	84	122	118	117	103	123
Bedfordshire	46	42	50	46	45	48	53	58	56	59	57	53
Cambridgeshire	90	80	80	77	73	56	71	60	60	50	46	49
Cheshire	70	82	70	75	74	81	89	75	76	73	80	72
Cleveland	86	84	78	80	75	85	80	95	100	100	105	97
City of London	88	81	55	73	74	73	72	86	89	86	45	49
Cumbria	108	122	98	98	94	92	87	89	90	89	90	97
Derbyshire	110	100	87	77	81	80	69	70	74	75	69	61
Devon and Cornwall	151	147	82	119	100	108	115	132	123	122	132	142
Dorset	74	72	72	66	67	57	59	60	64	62	67	71
Durham	138	144	96	101	101	86	102	97	103	100	102	89
Essex	228	217	235	228	195	180	184	186	202	205	220	225
Gloucestershire	82	84	79	77	72	71	80	82	93	92	94	95
Greater Manchester	209	182	217	218	240	219	202	205	187	245	217	250
Hampshire	106	112	110	111	100	87	94	94	92	97	83	85
Hertfordshire	42	41	43	52	44	46	47	50	53	52	49	53
Humberside	90	102	102	97	102	96	96	96	101	92	83	87
Kent	150	150	130	136	136	113	93	90	94	94	98	87
Lancashire	132	125	132	143	132	138	129	122	115	123	103	143
Leicestershire	104	94	90	90	85	69	68	51	53	59	67	64
Lincolnshire	82	85	75	78	80	91	87	78	86	87	75	77
Merseyside	147	165	121	96	103	78	84	94	93	129	139	153
Metropolitan	2,035	1,971	1,951	1,977	1,940	1,805	1,823	2,060	2,134	2,331	2,584	2,530
Norfolk	98	102	109	110	114	104	109	114	125	119	127	114
Northamptonshire	92	92	92	75	77	51	56	52	50	56	59	53
Northumbria	173	126	123	114	109	125	99	90	93	98	92	96
North Yorkshire	108	95	83	59	66	66	64	60	56	78	67	67
Nottinghamshire	128	129	120	116	137	136	131	138	138	149	146	137
South Yorkshire	110	108	90	100	98	92	100	98	122	116	118	106
Staffordshire	78	86	92	81	67	71	63	67	76	70	82	82
Suffolk	82	96	101	98	90	90	80	96	88	84	78	74
Surrey	76	61	69	71	72	62	48	53	49	51	45	54
Sussex	180	146	156	131	118	120	141	134	130	129	129	123
Thames Valley	185	194	179	187	185	156	180	172	176	180	186	180
Warwickshire	41	38	44	54	45	50	51	46	53	55	59	63
West Mercia	155	159	139	129	130	125	131	139	141	152	133	163
West Midlands	88	95	92	93	83	111	110	124	134	145	175	177
West Yorkshire	131	114	128	110	117	116	132	140	130	150	148	147
Wiltshire	134	105	88	89	71	71	78	80	74	72	69	67
Dyfed Powys	70	71	67	65	61	77	62	58	79	68	72	67
Gwent	70	59	64	68	66	57	60	71	74	86	64	63
North Wales	72	90	97	92	67	83	75	73	65	57	56	57
South Wales	134	176	169	155	143	138	125	139	134	130	115	138

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