Armed police recover stolen car in Capital

Armed police helped recover a stolen vehicle in the capital after a chance encounter at a set of traffic lights led to the car being recognised by an officer.

Senior officers will appear before MSPs to give evidence on the deployment of armed police. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The incident is one of several being used by Police Scotland to justify the fact that armed police have attended over 1,600 routine incidents since police chiefs promised that they would only respond to situations involving weapons.

The row is the latest chapter in an ongoing battle over where and when armed police should be deployed, with senior officers citing incidents where armed response vehicles were nearby routine incidents, or where approached by members of the public to assist.

Writing in the Scotland on Sunday, Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said that it was part of every police officer’s duty to respond when they come across a situation.

And he added that cities in Scotland were “not immune” to the threat of the kinds of terrorist shooting attacks seen recently Paris and Copenhagen.