There have been instances of UK police forces using singles [fixed wing and rotary] over rural areas in recent years. But .... the uses have been specific operations.
Ok the modern helicopters are expensive [but not £1200ph - yet ... cut that by a third unless you are including the crew] but the main difference is whether you have one airframe that does every conceivable job or go to the US system that has 6 $50 airframes in a rack [and some US taxpayers complain about that!] and you use whichever the hard pressed engineer has got working.
Even that multi-airframe system is moving over in favour of something new [and single] that is reliable and cheap to run.
The fact remains most police R44 operators in the US tend to be buzzing around the block - no great area and no great stress.