Police Firearms Discharges: How the UK and New York Compare

In the wake of the unrest in Ferguson, police shootings have been catching a lot of headlines lately. Just yesterday, a crew member working on the popular TV show "Cops" was accidentally shot and killed by a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska. The rate of police shooting incidents make for an interesting international comparison.

The Economist recently reported that British police officers only fired their weapons three times last year. These statistics do not cover the whole of the UK - just England and Wales with a collective population of nearly 57 million. Compared to New York, which has a population of almost 8 and a half million, however, there is quite a contrast. In 2012, there were 45 adversarial conflict incidents involving police firearms discharges in New York compared to just three in the UK. British police officers rarely carry firearms and armed members are only involved in specialized or authorized operations.