Huge rise in seizures of illegal guns
Bosses said the jump showed the success of the new armed crime team, which was set up last year in response to a rise in firearms incidents.
The team has been involved in a number of complex investigations, which have led to 11 people being charged with serious offences in the past three months.
A report to the April meeting of police commissioner Dr Alan Billings’ public accountability board said the team’s efforts “will have undoubtedly made the public safer.”
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Forber said: “It still remains the case that when we have a firearms discharge, it causes fear within the community.
“Our response in the early part of last year was to create an armed guard team under Det Supt Ian Proffitt.
“That’s a real success story for us. The impact that they are having is really significant. They are accompanied by our specialist firearms support to deal with some of these offenders and to deal with them safely.”
He added: “During 2020, we recovered 66 illegally held firearms. That’s a 32 per cent increase on 2018.
“We are really pleased with that. That has an impact. That is guns no longer in the hands of criminals.
“We will continue to develop that and continue to make sure that it brings pressure to these people causing hassle and misery on our streets.”
Dr Billings said he had discussed the figures with a friend in the US. The commissioner added: “He said how lucky we are. They reckon every house has 66 firearms in it on the street where he lives.
“This isn’t the kind of society that we want to live in, so thank you to our armed crimes team.”