cdb,
Reference 1. We would never be allowed to discharge a weapon whilst airborne. The constabulary I work for likes to gather it's resources at an "RV" point 2 miles from the scene of an incident and then talk about it for a couple of hours in the hope that the situation will blow itself out, and then not require a great deal of follow up action.
Reference 3. The vast majority of emergency/cautionary procedures should be done from memory. If you do an OPC (Operator proficiency check) in the UK you would be expected to be able to deal with most emergencies from memory. The aircraft operated by the majority of UK police forces (EC135 or Explorer) are not that complicated so it should be possible.
You mention irrelevant info, would you care to elaborate? I think the CAA (as far as the UK is concerned) have gone down the arse covering route, because they know that even if they spell everthing out letter by letter someone somewhere will suffer a brain fart which leads to yet another occurrence report being filed.
RC.