A WEST Yorkshire Police chief has said the force is "committed" to tackling gun crime - after new figures emerged revealing hundreds of reported firearms offences.

Statistics from the Home Office show West Yorkshire Police recorded 626 firearms crimes in the 12 months to March 2024 - up from 440 the year before and the highest figure since records began in 2007-08.

According to West Yorkshire Police, the rise in firearms offences in 2023-24 was driven by crimes involving BB guns which saw a spike between June and August 2023, some of which may relate to so-called gel guns. 
  
Latest provisional data from the force shows 404 firearms offences were recorded in West Yorkshire in the 12 months to August 2024.

Detective Superintendent Marie Bulmer, of West Yorkshire Police's Programme Precision - which aims to tackle serious and organised crime in the county - said: "West Yorkshire Police takes a proactive approach to removing firearms from our streets so that people who live in, work in and visit our communities remain safe.   

"That's why we are committed to focusing every effort to ensure that the people who illegally carry firearms are brought to justice where they are highly likely to serve a prison sentence. 

"Through Programme Precision, the force's response to tackling serious organised criminality, we are committed to tackling those groups who seek to use firearms or the threat of firearms to reinforce their standing in the criminal world. 

"It is also important that we work with local communities and partners to identify, arrest and convict anyone who is involved in any kind of crime that involves guns."

The Telegraph & Argus often reports on court cases and incidents where a gun was used.

Last November, a 38-year-old Shipley man was jailed for possession of two firearms, which a judge said "had the capability of killing two people".

Brendan Thompson, of Festival Avenue, was given a five-year prison sentence for two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition - charges that stemmed from an incident committed in August 2019.

Last December, 22-year-old Alban Rianga was jailed for eight years after police found a revolver along with compatible ammunition, as well as heroin worth almost £25,000, when they searched his flat at The Gatehaus on Leeds Road, Bradford.

Anyone with any information about crime in their area should contact West Yorkshire Police.