Gun injuries soar as police 'experts' blast themselves and colleagues by mistake (UK)

[krispos42]

Gun injuries soar as police 'experts' blast themselves and colleagues by mistake

By MARTIN SMITH
Last updated at 00:13am on 16th March 2008


The number of armed police officers accidentally shooting themselves – and other colleagues – has soared in the past five years.

Now, nearly half of all injuries caused by police shootings are the result of officers blasting themselves or a colleague, often during bungled training and demonstrations.

Since 2003, there have been seven incidents in which armed police injured themselves or a fellow officer due to the careless handling of a gun, compared to just four in the previous 12 years.

The disturbing statistics call into question the competence and training of the 6,700 officers authorised to carry firearms in the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

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http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=535071&in_page_id=1770

The article goes on to note that there has been no corrosponding increase in the number of civilians accidently shot by police, so that's some good news. But how does a police sniper manage to blow half of his THUMB off???

[Captain Angry]

1. Two ways.

LONG freakin' arms.

Or a tiny rifle.

[krispos42]

3. Well, it's confusing

One part says...

...and a sharpshooter who blew the top off his thumb.

But at the bottom of the article is says:

An airport security officer from the Met shot the top of his thumb off when he put it in front of his MP5 sub-machine gun during training in 2005.

An MP5 is not a exactly a long-range precision weapon.

[Captain Angry]

5. Sharpshooter is maybe a badge the guy got, not a job title?

I think my brother got a sharpshooter tag in the Army, but it was with a pistol or something. I could be way off, but I seem to remember that now.

[Lasher]

2. Put the bullets in backward?

Ricochet?

[krispos42]

4. Backwards wouldn't do anything

Except jam. They are tapered, so they only fit one way.

[Lasher]

7. Couldn't you like, pound on the other end with a hammer until it's tapered too?

Then you could get it in backward, right? I think that would be handy for when somebody's trying to sneak up behind you.

[iverglas]

6. hmm

http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html

2005, United States
Unintentional Firearm Deaths and Rates per 100,000
All Races, Both Sexes, All Ages
ICD-10 Codes: W32-W34

Number of Deaths - 789
Population - 296,507,061
Crude Rate - 0.27
Age-Adjusted Rate - 0.27



I'm just not having any luck finding figures for accidental, non-fatal firearm injury in the US. They'd be pretty hard to come by, I imagine. "How'd you get that hole in your leg?" "I was cleaning my gun and I accidentally shot myself." Sounds better than "I was trying to carry out a drug rip-off and my intended victim expressed his/her indignance."

Since 2003, there have been seven incidents in which armed police injured themselves or a fellow officer due to the careless handling of a gun, compared to just four in the previous 12 years.

(Since 2003 there has also been an increase in the number of police who handle firearms in the course of their work, I think you will also find.)

You actually do realize what you're seeing there, do you?

In 17 years, there have been 11 accidental shootings by police officers of themselves or another cop.

4 in the first 12 years -- when the number of police who handled firearms (and the number of police, period) was lower -- and 7 in the next 5 years.

If any bird in my neighourhood "soared" like that, my cats would have had it for breakfast by now.

By the way, you're heard of the concept of statistical significance?

And you really think that the general public, say in the US, has a better pro-rated track record than that?

Population 6,700 (although lower in earlier years), average 0.64 accidental shootings per year. That's 9.5/100,000. I dunno. How many accidental firearms injuries might there be in the US in a year? Just curious.

Cops drive cars a lot more than they handle firearms, mostly. I'll bet some of them are involved in car crashes, too. Human beings can be a foolish lot, eh?