Both are effective systems in themselves, and we can easily put the American system of policing in between these two in terms of the methods and approaches used.
The British system is one in which the police do not generally carry guns, and tend to focus on a model of community policing and engagement and talking to people that is a way of reasoning and persuading people to be good. On the downside the British system is bureaucratic, like the American and Canadian systems, meaning that police use a minimal level of police discretion and warnings in their policing efforts, resorting in 30 percent of the population having criminal and arrest records, which is bad for the economy and for recidivism rates. It also does not help that British police officers get assaulted a lot more frequently than their American counterparts, due to the fact that they do not shoot unarmed people as often as their American counterparts. Heavy police brutality and beatings is rarely documented, although light beatings by police are an often occurrence and often overlooked by internal affairs.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Russian system, which is known for it’s strictness and brutality, but also for it’s often giving of warnings. In Russia you have a lot higher chance of being beaten by police, than being jailed for your crimes. And if your crimes are serious, you have a high chance of being beaten as well as incarcerated. The Russian system stems from the Soviet and Communist systems in general, which take a tough on crime approach. This tough on crime approach did minimize crime to a large extent, but it relied also on being able to provide a livable environment and tons of employment opportunities for it’s citizens, which complimented it well, instead of punishing those who engaged in deviant behavior in the long term like in Western systems with criminal records and background checks. It is said they will scare you out of committing crimes, then let you go.
On one hand, while the Russian system does result in higher rates of organized crime and serious criminality than the West, it also results in significantly lower rates of less serious and petty crimes, especially youth crimes, than in Western countries. The Western system, in particular British and American systems, tend to just generate more criminals instead of “better” criminals like the Russian system. Is having tens of millions of street criminals better than having millions of organized criminals as an overall effect to society?