Nous that are plural in English

Question

For: La police est arrivée trop tard.In english, police and policemen are (la même chose) the same thing, plural nouns, yes? So why then is 'The police arrived too late.' a correct answer and 'The policemen arrived too late.' is not?

Accepted Answer

"La police est...' refers to the system level, or the police force 'ensemble', collectively, generally. 
If talking of the people, multiple individuals, -  'police officers' (or 'policemen' in olden English days !) - it would be 'les policiers sont . . .' in French

Answer

I haven't heard "policemen" used in place of "police" in US English. "Police" is used to mean "police force" (la police in French), a kind of generic term. Instead of "policemen" you'd be much more likely to hear "police officers" (les policiers in French).

Anyhow, this is just to say that you shouldn't fixate on the English. It would be impossible to satisfy every variant and alternate way of saying things.