After the attacks in Paris, some government officials in the UK seem to be realizing that having hardly any armed law enforcement on the streets isn’t such a great strategy for combating terrorism. There were reports of an updated counterterrorism task force in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, but now Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe has announced that the Metropolitan police will train 600 armed officers, increasing the total number of gun-carrying cops serving the London area to 2,800.
This is not a fundamental change to the makeup of London’s police force—92 percent of which will still be unarmed—but it at least demonstrates a willingness to consider ISIS-inspired terrorism. “The tragic attacks in Paris reinforced the vital role that firearms officers would be called upon to play on behalf of all of us, to run forward and confront the deadly threat that such attackers would pose,” Hogan-Howe said.
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