Though the British police did not generally carry weapons, the gravity of the situation had brought out an armed response team.

"In the end," she said, "the police themselves carried the tapes onto the plane without ever looking at them."

Though the British police do not regularly carry guns, they have recently started carrying handcuffs.

The police carried the bodies out of the building last night, along with a rifle.

Did you see those thin blades the merchants' police were carrying?

Taken literally, the police had carried that order to the limit.

"The thinking was, the police don't carry guns, so why should I?"

Yet given the magnitude of the situation, they said the police alone could not carry the burden.

"A 9-milimeter is what most police carry, and it has good velocity," Simeone said.

The 5,300 police have but four months of training and carry only sidearms, which they sometimes use when dialogue would be better.