All London police to get armour

Scotland Yard is to give all its officers body armour and equip many of them with CS gas.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Paul Condon, is to bring in a range of hi-tech equipment to help protect police officers as part of a Personal Safety Project. The moves are outlined in a newsletter to the capital's 27,944 officers today.

The CS gas, which will be on trial for six months in five divisions, is expected to be issued to all officers eventually. The number of armed patrol cars on the streets is to be doubled and 6,000 detectives will get pocket-sized telescopic truncheons.

Other personal safety devices include an alarm radio, which overrides other police messages; satellite tracking for armed response vehicles; and wallet-sized compters which will give on-the-spot information from Scotland Yard's files.