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There's a bit of rhetorical sleight of hand there since European nations don't draw a distinction between police and military (the UK does but they have both running around anyway; the fact the US intentionally divides them is a reaction to the problems that inherently creates, because when criminals are also inherently military targets, illegal speech is logically equivalent to waging civil war, and the US [being an extremely progressive nation] is obsessed with stacking the deck against itself so that if a civil war must be waged, it can be won).
[Such a civil war is why the police in North Ireland actually are armed, of course. I'm informed freedom of religion has a lot to do with why.]
Anyway, this permits an attitude of "the cops aren't as militarized" when talking to New Worlders (and it not be a lie), but at the same time conveniently ignores all the soldiers who are also patrolling. I've never seen a New World police officer with a rifle out, so the culture shock of "these people are armed to the fucking teeth, you can't even walk down the street without running into someone carrying an assault rifle- wonder what they're supposed to be protecting against? [Should I be taking cover right now?]" was quite apparent to me when I visited the Old World.
(Honestly, I don't want to go back to visit there partially for that reason, but at least it yields some perspective when understanding Outgroupers who are terrified that guns exist in the first place. Difference is that if I don't see their gun, they won't see mine, which is... also very much an attitude unique to New World nations, as I understand it.)
I'm surprised; I'd figure they'd go UMP9/G36 like the French seem to have just because they're cheap if you buy in bulk and the main thing they need to do is look scary.
Or they're missing, or not actually getting good hits, or medical assistance is far closer at hand in Germany. Maybe all 3?
It's purely Latin-coded. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Romania have rural police that are technically a branch of the armed forces, but a) it doesn't mean they are literally soldiers and b) no one else does that.
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Can you say more about the ways in which they are treated as the same thing?
To me it seems like the distinction between military and police is kept by the fact that the police and military have different duties.
Most criminals aren't military targets. Soldiers in Europe don't arrest people on the street or knock on doors, let alone over hate speech laws, they just stand guard in case a terrorist tries to open fire into a crowd, and sometimes they've also got border patrol duties.
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I have never encountered soldiers patrolling armed* in the UK mainland, apart from the security operation for the 2012 Olympics where they were brought in as an emergency measure after the private security guards Group 4 promised didn't show up. Are you generalising the situation in Northern Ireland during the Troubles? (Where there was de facto an active shooting war going on at the time, even if the British authorities consistently treated it as a law enforcement matter.)
* i.e. I am not counting guards on government buildings (who do not patrol) or soldiers running ambulances and fire engines during strikes (who are not armed).
Outside the UK, I've been surprised as an American to see real, battle-kitted soldiers with long guns (not ceremonial ones, either) out in public spaces in the EU: airports, tourist sites, etc. And the US doesn't really have the concept of a gendarme either. Our officers are all packing, but you almost never see the guns out of their holsters.
That doesn't happen in the US unless we've called in the National Guard for a specific purpose, which is pretty rare and a special occasion. Are they still out in DC? Did they even carry rifles for that?
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