If Scotland is a ‘violent society’ why do England & Wales have 13 times as many, per head, armed police call-outs and far more violent crimes?

Professor John Robertson OBA

The Daily Record today, deploying all its skills to inform us in the most misleading way they can manage, with a view to unnerving us and hopefully, with that ‘violent society’ claim, to turn us against the government of the day.

So two things – are armed police call-outs in Scotland relatively high and is that violent society claim tenable?

119 armed police call-outs in Scotland in 2025 so all things being equal in England and Wales, they’d have 1 309?

They had 17 249! 13 times, per head, pro rata, as high.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-use-of-firearms-statistics-april-2024-to-march-2025

In some ways those figures answer the question about a violent or otherwise society but there’s more evidence. Click on these for full detail.

Who will ever tell you this? Denmark, one of the safest places in the World, has more murders than Scotland and a murder rate only 0.004 per million lower
As BBC Scotland pounce on one ‘alleged’ stabbing what they don’t want you to know – murder by knife and possession of knives have plummeted but only in Scotland
Never mind the media trivia scramble for a few police officers leaving or failing a training course, here’s what matters to you – 25% more officers in Scotland yet violent crime almost three times as common in England & Wales
Campus shootings – how Scotland’s campuses, safest in the UK, could not be reported to US Department of Education yet in every English university town you are significantly more likely to be a victim of violent crime than in any Scottish one.
Since SNP came to power, massive reductions in property and violent crime, with increases in clear-up and confidence walking home
Scotland sees major falls in violent crime, housebreaking and drug possession but the Herald only sees the dark side
Falling trend in Scotland with 40% fewer women killed by men in last five ‘less violent years’, to level 13% below that in England, suggests a still shocking number but no national emergency
Violent attacks on trains are significantly more common in England and Wales than in Scotland
As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

4 thoughts on “If Scotland is a ‘violent society’ why do England & Wales have 13 times as many, per head, armed police call-outs and far more violent crimes?”

  2. 119 armed call-outs in 2025 ?

    Might I suggest a follow up piece for The Daily Rancid …there are approximately 275 dedicated armed officers in Scotland’s 13 Police divisions . So , are they underused ? Should we redeploy some ?

    Or should we be pleased that Scotland has more than sufficient armed response officers to deal with English levels of gun violence ?

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  3. OT, but it was amusing to visit the BBC Scotland website and see the straw-clutching in evidence from James Cook as polling sees increasing positivity toward independence.

    This piece https://archive.ph/FELbu features the utterly ridiculous Andrew Bowie as ‘Shadow Scottish Secretary’ pontificating “the situation as “critical” and said the Scottish government should now request army assistance from the UK government” – I keep forgetting this idiot is from a culture of ‘his men would follow him anywhere driven solely out of curiosity – This muppet would rather see south east england have cheaper leccy at cost to Scots who continue to pay through the nose for as simply a basic necessity.

    In another article from James “Year-long waits for NHS Scotland treatment continue to fall” he cannot resist featuring the irrelevant ramblings of one hair-gelled Sandesh Gulhane opining “Scots would not “fall for the boasting from Swinney and Neil Gray”. ” – Should we really forgive James Cook’s ignorance of the fact that Swinney and Gray were directly elected, yet Gulhane never has been ? – Answers om a postage stamp to Pacific Quay…

    Yet the most ridiculous of all from James Cook was Angus Cochrane’s ” Scottish party leaders set out stalls ahead of election ” to deflect from John Swinney’s announcement, featuring the outgoing ‘read my lips Sarwar and his counterpart the ridiculous Russel Findlay, with the obligatory ‘Analysis by David Wallet-Locked-Hard’.

    FFS, you’d almost think James Cook was panicking that elusive gong is slipping away again…

    The oldest article on BBC Scotland’s main ‘News’ page was recently 4 hrs old as opposed to weeks – The oldest article on BBC Scotland’s ‘Scotland Politics’ page was minutes old instead of months.

    Now that James Cook is bricking it over that all important gong, pardon my lack of surprise at ‘BREAKING NEWS’ taking the lead with Angus Cochrane’s ”Justice secretary found to have breached ministerial code’ – So who’s going to be the first crook to cast the first stone to be quoted by ‘James Cook’, Russel ? Anas wi teeth, Baron Awful ?

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