In relation to little old Ireland. Our helicopters (all of them, police, etc.) are unfortunately crewed by the Air Corps, so if we had 8 44's we would have a ready supply of pilots dying to fly them since they spend most of their pilot officer careers in the officers mess playing flight sim - that's how little time they get to fly.
In the UK I understand that the R44 may not be suitable, but policing in Ireland is different to the UK. Most of our sky police stuff involves patrol and surveillance, it is rare that we have to drop armed officers into a hot zone. I just think for the tasks that our machines carry out now, the same work could be done by an R44. Maybe in the future we'll require heavy's to do the job, or maybe we need 1 heavy to supplement smaller machines like the 44, but I really don't think Ireland is getting good value for money at the moment. The helicopters spend most of their time patrolling the streets or concerts or expensive neighborhoods. There aren't many car chases to speak of in Ireland (the place is after all, tiny).
I'm not a police man though and I don't fly a police helicopter so my knowledge is limited to what I've said. Thanks for your insight though TC.