It was fairly controversial when the Australian Government recently decided to have submachine gun-armed Federal Police provide security at our national Parliament House. It was rationalised by claims of terrorist threats, of course.

To an Australian, it's very weird to see submachine guns at all, let alone around our national buildings.

(Another thing to consider about different attitudes: There's a bunch of interesting politicisation about the terms "Police Force" vs. "Police Service" in some jurisdictions around the world, to the point that, in general, conservatives prefer "force", progressives prefer "service".)