I'm wondering whether 'police' and 'police officers' are interchangeable in the following in American English:
- Twelve police officers / police were killed in the shoot-out.
- More than 20 police officers / police were called to the crime scene.
- Several police officers / police were killed in the shoot-out.
The noun 'staff' cannot have the number specified as in 'the company has
20 staff' in American English. I'm not sure that's also true of 'police'.
Best Answer
In AmE, police generally refers to a group of law-enforcement personnel, and police officers refers to the individuals serving in that role, although the latter varies by country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_officer