Bomb threat figures show fall in county

» THE number of bomb threats made to Gloucestershire police has more than halved in the last few years.

According to a Freedom of Information request, there were 19 bomb threats recorded by Gloucestershire Constabulary this year compared to 45 in 2018.

In 2017, when England was hit by a number of terrorist attacks and the UK’S threat level was raised to “severe”, there were 38 bomb threats made to Gloucestershire’s police force.

The police confirmed there have been 141 bomb threats between 2016 and 2020, with most recorded in 2017 and 2018. In 2016 there were 19 bomb threats, 38 in 2017, 45 in 2018, 20 in 2019 and 19 in 2020, the FOI said.

The police did not release information about which areas of Gloucestershire received the most bomb threats between that period.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “The terrorism threat to the UK was raised to severe by the Home Office on November 3, following attacks in Europe, meaning an attack is highly likely.

“A police response depends on the credibility of a threat and our advice would be to report anything suspicious to police immediately by calling 999. The risk would be assessed and police will advise the public accordingly.

“Gloucestershire Constabulary will work with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation of these incidents. We do receive a number of hoax threats and we take these extremely seriously. They divert police resources and cause disruption and alarm to the public.”