I can't talk for the yanks, they operated helo's in the police role while we were still chasing crims in Zephyr 6's and Consuls
Until/Unless the CAA revise or change their remit, the rules will require police operators to fly twins if they wish to enjoy the exemptions agreed between the Home Office and the regulators.
The R44 is therefore automatically eliminated by default.
Thats the easy bit out of the way.
Since the police aviaton culture has matured, so too has the operational tasking and the way we perceive how the task should be conducted.
A 'standard' complement enjoys:
pilot / tactical commander / +1
We have just completed a paper on minimum crewing requirements for UK police air support units. It goes on to conclude that the above, is an absolute minimum for the majority of tasks expected from us. Especially at night, in pursuit of a stolen vehicle, or person on the move, for example. The pilot flies (!) the tactical commander delegates and the remaining observer shares this work load. One may be on camera, the other doing a commentary to the ground troops or command, together with checking the route along which the pursuit is going. An added extra, is the ubiquitous flight safety where, especially in busy airspace, an extra pair of eyes comes in handy
Add to all of the above, the following 'essential' police equipment for the modern force of today':
FLIR pod
Searchlight
Tracker stolen vehicle ident
Skyshout
Microwave down/up link
Video recording facilities
Moving Map
Police on board cockpit equipment (cameras/binos/maps/)
Survival gear (mae wests/ELT/Dinghy/Smokes/)
Police radio suite (currently 4+ radio heads, soon to change to all digital)
Sufficent fuel to stay on task for a reasonable time.
Then there is the requirement for additional tasking:
Carriage of firearms teams (flak jackets/ guns/ammo)
Carriage of specialist teams (bomb disposal/forensics/soco)
Carriage of paramedic equipment and or persons (on some units)
Speed is important, the ability to get to a job within 'x' minutes is common sense really. A chopper weighed down with all this drags the Vno down. The R44, I believe doesn't have too much of a top speed?
Overall, I hope you'll agree we are now looking at a substantial hike in helo size from that of the R44.
Your average police helo is driving around at between 2500 and 2850kg. Allowing him a little flex in payload.
Once we go above the 3000kg mark, new regs (FDR CVR etc)come into play and we don't want to go there...just yet!
I would say that the major difference between the europeans (Irish, Italians, German Uk etc) and the US, is that we cater for a greater spread of tasking, and are looking a little further into the future re: police ops.
Who knows what may be asked of the police force of the future:
SAR / EMS / Rapid roping / Winching / Long range ops.
My last para should incite some unrest amongst our pals across the water
The funny thing is, we buy our equipment with public money, the yanks (some states) get funded by claw back from the crims...and yet they still drive round in either war surplus rigs or mickey mouse R"" / R44's...
PS: There are very few AS355's left in the Uk for police ops, now. Most have upgraded to 902 / 135 with the odd ball in a 109
These new generation a/c have relatively little down time, ours for example is 95% operational.
An R44 isn't sturdy enough to survive the rigours of a bobbies lightweight 100kg, size 14, good looks and charms
Over to you