The number of armed police deployments on the Isle of Man has almost doubled over the past five years, newly released figures reveal.

Between April 2021 and April 2022, armed officers were deployed 27 times. The figure remained the same the following year before rising to 37 in 2023-24.

Although deployments fell to 30 in 2024-25, they increased sharply to 45 in 2025-26, the highest figure recorded during the five-year period.

The statistics were released by the Isle of Man Constabulary following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from advocate Ian Kermode.

Mr Kermode also asked how many officers are firearms-trained and what weapons they carry. However, the force declined to provide the information, saying its disclosure could prejudice security.

Earlier this year, Chief Constable Russ Foster defended the use of armed officers following concerns that they were being deployed too frequently.

Giving evidence to the Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Justice Committee in February, Mr Foster said armed officers had saved lives.

'We have fewer trained armed officers than we did when I started on April 1, 2023,' he said.

'All that's happened is they have been repositioned to be more forward-facing, to respond to safeguard the public and, furthermore, provide a safe system of work for our officers.

'There has been a number of incidents where those officers have been deployed and they have saved people's lives. In addition to that, they have also detained individuals who I have no doubt would have gone on to inflict further harm on the public.'

Mr Foster said the force had carefully considered when armed officers should be deployed.

'We've deployed our armed officers to people in crisis with weapons, including firearms, threatening to take their own life,' he said.

'Historically this constabulary has deployed unarmed officers to those sorts of incidents, which is wholly inappropriate, and we're certainly not safeguarding our staff.'