Neith is armed: in a clip holster at her back there is a powerful taser. Inspectors do not generally carry lethal weapons as a matter of course, and in any case a gun is a terrible close-quarters weapon. At distances under fifteen feet—and most encounters in British housing will take place at such distances—they are too slow, and a bullet fired from even a low-powered gun at that range will continue through the target and hit other things such as bystanders and gas pipes. The taser is a compromise, but hardly a very good one because it only fires twice and has limited penetration. For backup she has a telescoping baton, a mean little thing halfway between a cudgel and a whip. Of course, if she seriously believes she is in physical danger, she should go out immediately into the open air, into the connected space of the Witness, and order assistance.