....I would be on normal unarmed duty until required. I carried my kit in the vehicle and would either have to collect a firearm or have one brought to me. Usually used in pre-planned operations or when the mess hit the fan or after the armed response unit had contained the situation. London is a large force in a small area and can afford to have an armed tactical unit on standby....
I'm sure it's possible and may have happened, but I can't recall any headline grabbing misuse of a duty weapon by any London law enforcement officials. By most accounts, the incident took some eight minutes to get under control, and apparently some unarmed officers received serious injury.
It would seem so much more intuitive to arm all your law enforcement officers, particularly while on duty with all the training. Minutes probably seemed like hours while everyone was waiting for the response team. Thanks also for the explanation and sharing your experiences.
