In
a little-noticed move, a small number of police officers are now routinely
carrying sidearms while on patrol in much of Scotland - the first in the UK
outside Northern Ireland to do so. How did this come about, and does it alter
the relationship between the constabulary and the public?
Saturday
night in Inverness. Outside a McDonald's restaurant, a scuffle between two men
breaks out. Three police officers arrive to intervene. So far, so mundane.
Except
that strapped around the hips of each of the policemen approaching the brawl is
a holstered Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol.
It's
a sight that once would have been unthinkable. In this corner of the Scottish
Highlands - an area with one of the lowest crime rates in the UK - the officers
showing up to a relatively workaday disturbance are armed.
Although
every police force has a firearms unit, for decades it has been an article of
faith that in the mainland UK, almost uniquely among major industrialised
nations, the police do not carry guns as a matter of course.
But
with little fanfare at first, a policy of routinely allowing specialist
officers to wear sidearms as they walk the streets of Scotland has come into
being.
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