We get a lot of UK police officers moving here to New Zealand to work, and I e always found them to be polite, friendly, and knowledgeable, they fit well into our existing police force (which is not without its flaws of course! But after a recent trial of arming cops, it has been decided not to arm them. One statistic noted in the decision was that during the trial 50% of cases responded to by the armed officers involved maori/Pacifica ppl, which is way out of proportion with the population)

I'm sorry but I disagree on part of your comment. In the US it's quite normal and legal for people to carry guns. Open or concealed. So you just can't say that the cops don't need guns for a routine traffic stop. That's just the problem in the US. In any country when someone reaches for his back pocket, cops just assume that they are going to show their ID or driver's license. In the US you can (and probably will) get shot if you try to do that, because the cops are trained to shoot first and ask later. And I can't blame them if every person they meet in the line of their duty could be carrying a gun. So no, unarmed cops just aren't an option in the US.

Compared to other countries, there is a much a percentage of people that own guns in the US. There is every chance a shoplifter has a gun. Cops can and do get killed during routine traffic stops. They don't need assault rifles for these responses but I do think they need guns.I think it's beyond doubt that change is needed but I don't think this would work.

Routine traffic stops can actually be very dangerous. I'm not sure if you live in the U.S., but our citizenry is absolutely armed to the teeth. That's actually part of the problem. Cops feel like they need to be more well-armed then the citizens, and the citizens can own military-grade weapons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_shootings_of_Oakland_police_officers

They can be armed with a taser in the UK. There are also Armed Response Teams that can be called on if necessary.

As I already explained to BluEyedSeoulite, US cops have a far higher chance to come in contact with dangerous and armed people compared to cops in other countries. But you can't hold the excessive adoration for guns in the US against countries where people don't need to walk with holstered guns like they still are living in the wild west. The absurd desire for guns and the totally absurd situation where people in a developed country feel the need to walk around with guns is something that the US citizens need to address themselves. As long as they are willing to accept that each year 40 000 people die because of gun violence, they also have to accept that they have to deal with cops that shoot first and ask later. Differences that matter, as you say.

Claudia Calabrese like

The intimidation factor is a problem. Maybe that's to do with how prevalent guns are in America and that the officer must need to assume someone could have a gun. Bad ppl get a hold of guns here (nz) too, but it's much harder. Cops carry a handgun in a lockbox in the boot of the car. They only have holstered gubs in rare situations, normally until the armed defenders squad arrive, kind of like a swat team I guess.