Armed Cops In London

A new type of armed cop was seen on the streets of London yesterday, members of the Metropolitan Police elite CO19 unit but in plain clothes and with their faces covered, more like the SAS than cops. As it happens my new book False Friends has Spider running around taking on armed terrorists in London, but Spider draws the line at wearing a balaclava! The cops were in Tottenham Court Road to deal with a white guy threatening to blow himself up with gas canisters. The cynic in me can't help but wonder if the whole thing wasn't a set up to demonstrate that the Met is fully prepared for the Olympics and getting us used to seeing masked policeman.