Yes, there are special officers designated as qualified to carry firearms. The numbers have been increasing significantly.
When I had an FFL, I purchased 20 - 30 Smith & Wesson model 10 London Police surplus. It was when there were a lot of surplus revolvers on the market. They were great guns, some holster wear, but not shot much. Hard to beat a S&W model 10.
They had British proof marks and some sort of amorers number stamped on them. All were 4” barrels.
The importer that I got them from said they were being replaced with Glocks. Great guy. We hit it off, and he included one with target sights, trigger, and hammer, a model 15, I think, in the next shipment. Those are fond memories.
I’ve fired a Glock .40 (I think .40) and didn’t like the trigger pull and release. You had to pull the trigger almost to the back before it’d fire and then a long release. I wound up buying a .40Smith HD Shield; love the short trigger pull and release.