James K., I won't say that the things you say aren't true, but I myself have worked alongside British police officers who were firearms trained, and haven't heard things like those
. It sounds a bit exaggerated that an officer would be "advised" to avoid private activities that involved shooting, since that would come in direct conflict with his privacy, and after all, he wouldn't be doing anything unlawful. Certainly, the regular British cops aren't armed, but their "armed response" units are, as far as I know, motorized. This "armed response vehicles", are the ones who are called upon when the need comes, apart from officers who work in plain clothes on a regular basis and are armed on duty, too, without the need to of asking for permission to retrieve a firearm from the armory should the need come, if that's what you meant. Most of the ones I worked with were MoD (Ministry of Defense) Police, and some others were London Metro or from other cities. In the UK, there is just one "Police", although each town has its own force.
It is true that we don't replace our firearms as often as you do, and I guess it's for a number of reasons. One is the costs involved, another one is that every time you replace the sidearms, your officers will have to undergo refreshment training. And that means more costs and withdrawing your officers from the streets. No supervisor likes to have his manpower depleted due to training, I can assure you that.
In my case, after nearly 20 years of service, I started out with the old Star BM, single-stack single action, to the Star 30M, double stack-DA/SA (a pistol I liked so much that I've purchased one for my personal use) and now to the Beretta 92FS. The 92FS is not, however, the only sidearm used in my agency. Plain clothes people use HK USPc, and the tactical units use a the HK USP, Glock 17, and IIRC, some Ruger .44 revolvers, although it is the G17 what they usually carry.
True, too, that we're organized in a different manner. Cities can have, and usually do, their own departments, but there's always a national level police force along with them, and investigations are run always by the latter, leaving the municipalities' police to assist the national-level police force (which is also a uniform wearing force, unlike your FBI) in patrol duties, and to traffic duties. There's one national-level police agency in the cities, and another one for the smaller towns, traffic control and accident investigations (at the level a State Police would do in the US) in Highways, borders and customs, airport security, coast guard, etc... and both agencies have their own riot-control and tactical units. This system is found in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
In my case, I HOPE I would be given the chance to choose what firearm/ammo to carry. Here, you have to use what you're issued, and that's it.
