Sorry Yes, it was an unusual model of policing outside Dublin. The RIC were armed as a matter of course (DMP followed UK unarmed pattern, later adopted by the Garda). Rifles/carbines were carried at the trail, as with Light Infantry and Gurkhas. You were never allowed to serve in your native area, as family pressure could be brought upon you to bend the law. My great-grandfather, although from SLNC territory, spent his career entirely in BNCR country. The modern Rifles regiment of the British Army looks just like the RIC on parade !