You are correct that the Met 145's have their camera and SX16 mounted on the front of the aircrafts skids. This is a similar fit to the Strathclyde Police 135 fit, one of the advantages of this is they still have the low skid configuration and don't have the problem with skid in the picture from the FLIR camera.
I do believe that the McAlpines pod has great uses, however the way forward for them is to try and slim it down and try and get the 135 back on the low skids to reduce the drag factor and aid the pilot from getting the skid in the middle of the picture just when you don't want it there.
I find it surprising that they cannot operate the camera and the SX16 at the same time, hopefully one of the Met observer can throw some light on this.
Overall they look a nice machine and it was good to see that they followed the home office paint scheme.
