A lot of organisations were unprepared for this and slow to react. A friend of mine who can easily do his job from home only got set up 3 days ago. The Governments original strategy was to take it on the chin and build hurd immunity etc. It was only because of the backlash that they did a compete U turn! They didn't even consult the police when they put us on lockdown!
It's terrifying that we have the likes of Johnson and Hancock in charge and they have no idea what they are doing!
That's up to companies to sort... mine sent me home (to work) three weeks ago yesterday.
The Government's original plan was to build up herd immunity because original predictions showed X cases and deaths then revised ones from Imperial College London changed everything and the Government realised it would swamp the NHS unless they changed strategy, so they did. Bear in mind that almost every medical expert in the world says we'll need herd immunity at some point as the best defence.... it's just that a better understanding showed that the cases/deaths would be far too high at this point.
Who said the police weren't told? My gut instinct tells me the Home Secretary and senior police heads would have been discussing stuff every day but I don't know that for certain. I assume you have some interviews with senior police heads that say otherwise?
As for knowing what they're doing... yes, there's lots of things they could have/should have done differently. We have enough ventilators/beds (right now) but other stuff feels like a seat of the pants strategy.