I agree. I would expect any service holster to at least have some kind of a mechanical lock to prevent theft or an accidental drop of a gun.
I have a cheap plastic holster that requires a button press with your index finger. You can do this while grabbing the handle and starting to pull the gun. When completely pulled out, your finger is then aligned near to the trigger for quick response times. That’s the system I expect a modern police to have. It’s really difficult to take the gun out when you’re not pulling from above from a natural position.
I know the cops in the US have a very bad reputation but this can’t be true.
I'm sure some cops somewhere still do that, but I can't remember the last time I saw a uniformed patrol officer not using some kind of retention holster. Even the old fashion leather holsters had thumbsnaps every time I've seen them for the kind of role.
A duty holster will have a retention lock of some kind, usually a thumblock or button. Thats what you'd expect a uniformed patrol officer to use on a belt kit. A detective or some other LEO that wears more business casual clothes or formal clothes will more likely to have a holster without a retention, but they aren't normally making traffic stops.
Not really worth a deep dive since the story is made up in the first place.