Firearm crimes pass the 1,000 mark
There have been more than 1,000 reports of crimes involving firearms in the Black Country over the past three years, figures released today have showed.
There have been more than 1,000 reports of crimes involving firearms in the Black Country over the past three years, figures released today have showed.
In more than 350 of those cases, reported between the start of 2006 and the end of 2008, firearms were used to cause injury.
The figures have been released under the Freedom of Information Act, and show the number of recorded firearms crimes in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Bloxwich, Dudley and Sandwell.
A total of 1,069 crimes were recorded involving a firearm during the three years - 368 in 2006, 408 in 2007 and 293 in 2008.
Over that time there was 372 cases where a weapon used caused injury and 474 cases when it was used as a threat. There were also 162 cases when it was used causing property damage only and five cases when it was used as a blunt instrument. There were also 51 cases when a weapon was used causing no injury or damage.
Last year there were 24 cases in Dudley north where it was reported a firearm had caused injury, and 20 in the Smethwick area. There were 17 cases across the two areas covered by Walsall.
There was also 21 cases in Wolverhampton west when a firearm was used as a threat, another 21 in the West Bromwich area and 24 in the Smethwick area.
The figures have been released just weeks after Kevin Fairweather from Aston, Birmingham, was given a 10-year sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court after opening fire in West Bromwich town centre in the early hours of the morning.
And last month Leighton Cohen was handed a prison sentence of at least 23 years after killing a bystander following a pub row over 'respect'. The 21-year-old fired indiscriminately into the doorway of the Bagot Arms in Whitmore Reans, hitting father-of-two Luke Harris, after being forced out by other revellers.
In 2007 Marcus Bailey was ordered to spend 15 years behind bars after shooting PC Geoff King in November 2006 in Wolverhampton. The police said that figures released today also include some crimes involving air weapons. Possession-only crimes have not been included. West Midlands police spokeswoman Zoe Lee said: "We continue to work extremely hard to investigate those people involved in criminal activity with firearms and we have had some success in arresting and obtaining lengthy prison sentences for those carrying firearms.
"There continues to be a need for a great deal of preventative work to stop young people from becoming involved with weapons and to tackle their involvement with gangs and to reduce the risk to the public and young people.
"We continue to carry out many operations aimed at providing reassurance to the public by being highly visible in public places such as the city centre, bus stations and train stations."
