Dear Pie person.
I have no axe to grind and no ulterior motive for my comments. The British Police Service is the only single tier and in all but name only national police service in the Western World. To single out Spain as an example they have three tiers of police. The Guarda Civil deal with remote areas , street crime , speeding on motorways , riots and border patrols. All Guarda helicopters(and boats) are flown by Guarda Officers with Guarda Observers.The National Police deal with cross border offences and also VIP and royal protection and the Policia Locale deal with other offences not dealt with by the others. A complete mess to the outsider and is it any wonder that the alleged crime rate in Spain is claimed to be much less than that in England and Wales. Nobody seems to check any of the figures which are produced.
The Guards are are para military organisation and live in barracks in the main.
Compare that with Britain at the moment. Local Authorities are setting up their own local pseudo police and the Police themselves have employed what can only be described as Fred Karnos Army to patrol the streets. Why? Because Police Officers are very expensive and take a long time to produce.
Core policing can only be done by Police Officers and the only way to do it is to free up all Police Officers possible to do it and sub contract other duties to civilians.
If you don't like that scenario would you fancy being a Guard in Spain and live in barracks under strict para military discipline.