[extropy-chat] again with the gun stats

[Damien Broderick]

I wrote hurriedly:

> < During the 10 months to January 31, there were 939 crimes involving
> firearms in the Metropolitan Police area compared with 322 in the 10
months
> to the end of January, 2001 - an almost three-fold increase. >
>
> Wow! From 300+ to <1000! Shocking.
>
> Note that these are not [all] deaths. How does this compare with some
other places
> of comparable size? Inner London in 2001: 2,765,975, so maybe roughly
> equivalent of US population would be 94,000 armed crimes

A tad more tells me:

http://www.met.police.uk/about/index.htm

< Today, the Metropolitan Police Service employs 29,278 officers, 11,368
police staff, 609 traffic wardens and 865 Police Community Support Officers
(PCSOs), and, since the realignment of police boundaries in April 2000, it
covers an area of 620 square miles and a population of 7.2million.
(figures updated: August 2003) >

So maybe the more accurate comparison with the US data would be an
equivalent of 36,600 armed crimes (cf. 533,000, or roughly one fifteenth),
if I've done my rough and ready add-ups right.

The Brits on the list will surely know in better detail.