Bearing in mind that the regular police forces of neither country underwent radical changes in personnel following the rise to power of Mussolini/Hitler, the rituals aimed to make a positive statement about the political credentials of police institutions.

[…]

Moreover, as the article of October 1936 implies, the presence of representatives of the police forces of other countries at the celebrations was used to propagandise the international reputation of the Interior Ministry Police, along the lines that in the past the Italian police had had to look up to foreign police forces; now it was the foreign police who had to learn from them.

The oral commentator of newsreel footage of the 1937 celebration reinforced this notion in proclaiming how : ‘The German, Austrian, Hungarian, Portuguese, Yugoslav and Albanian police delegations watch the superb spectacle and the procession of six thousand men carrying the most advanced arms and equipment’.

[…]

The activities that characterised the Tag der deutschen Polizei were not new to the police as they resembled promotional efforts carried out from the mid‐1920s onwards to improve the image of the police, especially the Prussian police force.

In the Weimar as well as in the [Fascist] years, these activities included public donations of meals to the poor, the staging of sporting events, public concerts, exercises using dogs and horses, as well as games for children. The Tag der deutschen Polizei continued and expanded these types of activities. In some areas police stations were decorated, parades were held and riding on horseback was organised.

[…]

Difficulties in recruiting young men into the police who preferred a career in the army meant that [Fascist] Germany’s uniformed police never achieved the same levels of manpower which they had during the Weimar years. The suggestion that the police had eyes and ears everywhere was a myth — not only for the Gestapo — and perhaps this helps to explain some of the importance which high‐ranking police officials gave to the Tag der deutschen Polizei.

(Emphasis added.)