First, just to provide a little information, we're rolling out the arming of our officers over a ten-year period, as you're probably aware. Currently we have approximately 750 officers who have been armed.
Since the commencement of the deployment of weapons, there have been approximately 39 incidents in which weapons have been drawn. In each of those cases, it is our policy and our process for a panel to review the incident to ensure that the drawing of the weapon was appropriate and was consistent with our policies, and in each case, the actions in every one of these 39 incidents were deemed to be appropriate and consistent with our policies.
Generally speaking, and speaking broadly, the weapon is only to be drawn when the officer feels that there is a clear and present threat to his or her safety. There are various steps and an escalation process that they are required to go through. If the weapon is drawn, as an example, the first position is known as the “low ready position“, which means that the weapon is taken from the holster, but it is not pointed or deployed in any significant way. Generally speaking, virtually all of the incidents we have dealt with to this point have been in that category.