ARMED police officers in Hampshire responded to four incidents each week on average last year, new figures reveal.

Home Office data shows Hampshire Constabulary deployed armed police to 192 incidents in the year to March.

This was down 17 per cent from 2019-20, when there were 231 firearms operations. Across England and Wales, the number of police firearms operations fell for the second consecutive year to 18,262, down 6 per cent from 2019-20.

The latest period saw officers fire their weapons on four occasions, compared to five the year before.

The overall drop in operations came during a year when the UK terrorism threat level was raised from “substantial” to “severe” in November, following a series of attacks in France and Austria. However, in February this year, the level returned to ‘substantial’, meaning an attack was a strong possibility.

The Home Office said the reduction in firearms operations last year may reflect the impact of lockdown restrictions in place during the pandemic. It said armed officers are only deployed to incidents where someone else is armed or is considered so dangerous that use of a gun may be necessary. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said the small proportion of incidents which led to an officer firing a gun was a mark of the quality of training.

Chief constable Simon Chesterman, the NPCC’s lead for armed policing, said: “The discharging of weapons is always a last resort and I’m proud to see there were only four occasions when our officers were required to do this.”

Mr Chesterman also said forces are now better equipped when dealing with operations thanks to an increase in the number of armed response vehicles.

, with at least one present at 92% of call-outs last year.

“Forces are able to respond to major incidents such as terrorist attacks faster and with greater numbers,” he added.

The figures also show there had been a small decrease in the number of firearms officers across England and Wales, down 1% over the year to 6,543 in March.