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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic changes in many facets of social life, including the police. Prior research finds that certain changes in police organizations brought on by the pandemic were relatively ubiquitous across counties (e.g., wider spread use of personal protective equipment). However, other changes brought on by the pandemic (e.g., changing staffing, time off use, and workload) seemed more idiosyncratic. Further research attempted to explain these differences by looking at indicators of the strength of the pandemic. The results showed little to no relationship between the pandemic and many organizational changes in policing—and even some that were contraindicated. This begs the question: what factors could potentially explain this variation? One factor may be related to the quality of the governance, history of democratic government, and cultural traditions of the country. Given the distinct histories of countries in Eastern and Western Europe during the past 100 years, the European continent may be the perfect place to examine this question. Although countries in Eastern Europe have been under repressive communist governments for over five decades, most countries in Western Europe have largely been free from the direct effects of repressive governments. Although communism in Europe fell over 30 years ago, it is likely that the effects persist in countries in transition. Recent research shows quite distinct attitudes between citizens of Eastern and Western European counties on major social issues and views of the role of government. This paper directly compares the changes in police organizations in seven established democracies (i.e., Western European countries) with those in eight countries in transition (i.e., Eastern European counties). Additionally, we also compare changes in police organizations in adjacent countries. The implications and findings are discussed in light of how these factors may have influenced the differences in how police agencies in these countries responded to the pandemic.