RP You are, perhaps, highlighting why those who think they understand how the job is done should not be allowed to decide.
I am sure that you are a highly intelligent professional with an understanding of many areas of aviation but you don't seem to have grasped what the job entails.
You make a lot of valid points, I agree that police helicopters attend many jobs that they should never be sent to - often, I believe, just to justify their existence to those who don't understand what they're best at. I also believe that there are many jobs which can be done far more efficiently by fixed wing assets but the jobs that really need a locally based helicopter, really need a locally based helicopter or one that can get to the scene reasonably quickly and has access to fuel in that area.
Unfortunately, the new model will mean that helicopters waste their time locally on the same garden hopping bike thief while a fixed wing asset attends the rural areas and has to stand down due to the nature of the task, weather or environment.
In a few years we'll go down to a nine base model and carry on attending stuff that doesn't warrant the use of such an asset merely because someone with no understanding of what it is really for has decided that they want one.
I agree with you that helicopters are used wrongly but the new model won't change that, it will just add fixed wing assets that are used wrongly, too.