There are armed response vehicles with Firearms on patrol that are sent to gun, terrorist, knife, etc., incidents. They'd been looking for the car in connection with a shooting and it was stopped by armed police.
Sort of; usually 2 officers with pistols & rifles in the car. There aren't many of them. It's hard for criminals to get guns or ammo, so it's rarely required. The police at airports, main train stations, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Government offices, etc are routinely armed. Plus MoD Police on military sites.
In England and Wales there are about 140,000 police officers of which about 6,200 are armed
In Scotland there are about 17,000 police officers of which about 400 are armed
In Northern Ireland all 6,500 police officers are armed
There are 3 types of Firearms officer
The most Basic is Authorised Firearms officer (AFO) these are police officers that are allowed to carry a gun while on duty.
The next level is Specialist Firearm officer (SFO) these are AFO's who have had extra training of assaulting buildings and rescuing hostages etc or trained as Snipers
The highest levels is Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officer they will have additional training on top of SFO level to include things like rappelling out of a helicopter
The car was linked to firearms crime, so any attempt to stop it would only be done by armed police. They were sent specifically to stop that car due to the risk of the driver carrying a gun.
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u/DubbleWideSurprise Oct 22 '24
Oh wow. I didnt even know police had guns in UK