In his four years with the SO19, the Metropolitan Police Special Firearms Wing, Steve Collins has been in over thousand contacts, that is gun battles with Yardies, IRA gunmen, East End gangsters such as the notorious Arifs and their hitman, drug smugglers from South America and elsewhere and lone gunmen who have simply gone beserk. A judge commending the bravery of Steve's team recenty said, ' If only the public knew the calibre of the men that protect them. ' SO19 is the invisible blue line that protects us all from the chaos and the violence that continually threatens to take over the capital. These groups are simply the best when it comes to firearms operations in an urban enviroment-the SAS come to them for training! Here Steve Collins gives the inside story of these operations, which we otherwise only get to hear about when they make the headlines.