c-bert,
I don't wish to start an argument, and maybe your information is better than mine, but if you check the link I gave earlier, you will find the legal situation as laid out by the actual regulator of all things (radio-)telegraphic and (radio-)telephonic.
It is quite clear that receiving, for example, police transmissions is illegal. The specific question regarding listening to police transmissions and not acting on them is covered in the FAQ at the bottom.
Of course, how an individual policeman acts in relation to the law is another question. One in London the other day told me outright that he had no idea how to enforce the new zebra crossings they have which don't have zig-zag lines approaching them. Police officers make mistakes. (Just ask the magistrate who threw out my speeding case!
)
WRT an FRTOL, I think you'll find you are only allowed to exercise the priviledges of the licence is relation to the safe conduct of a flight. Ergo, using one to have a chin-wag with your mate in the air, for example, is not allowed.
Editted to add that LASORS, section B1.1 states "the FRTOL does not entitle the holder to operate a radio station which is installed anywhere other than in an aircraft". Therefore, it specifically does not entitle the holder to use a handheld radio (except, perhaps, inside an airplane in event of a failure of a fixed radio installation).
Rgds,
TPK
