Batons, cuffs and canines used by local police officers

OF the 17,742 times the police in the North used force in last year, 992 of these incidents took place within Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area.

Meanwhile, police used force 1,542 times in Derry and Strabane, 1,581 in Mid UIster, and 6,093 in Belfast.

The most common kind of force exercised in our local area – and across the rest of the region – was ‘unarmed physical tactics’.

On 601 occasions, officers in Fermanagh and Omagh deployed ‘unarmed physical tactics’.

In neighbouring Derry and Strabane, the PSNI used these same methods 884 times, while the same figure for Mid Ulster was 987.

Meanwhile, PSNI staff in Belfast found it necessary to exercise ‘unarmed physical tactics’ in 3,565 incidents.

Locally, police drew their batons eight times, used them five times, and, on the 17 occasions that they took out their irritant spray, they discharged it on each.

Only one shot was fired by police in the North last year, and that occurred during an incident in Belfast.

However, officers in Fermanagh and Omagh did find cause to draw and point a firearm 19 times, while in Derry and Strabane that figure was 37, and in Mid Ulster it was 38.

The use of police dogs as a means of disarming, restraining or apprehending a person was low locally, with a canine only being used once in Fermangh and Omagh.

Similarly, police dogs were not favoured by police in Mid Ulster, with officers only using them four times. However, in Derry and Strabane the figure was markedly higher, 22. Only in Belfast did police use dogs more, employing physical canine support 55 times.

From April 2022 to March 2023 handcuffs were used 308 in Fermanagh and Omagh, 488 times in Derry and Strabane, 418 in times Mid Ulster, and 3,565 in Belfast.

At no point in 2023 was a water cannon used anywhere in the North.