@ChrisMayLA6 well I am freinds with a couple of serving police officers in my local force (WMP)
They are stretched so thin after overall decade of budget cuts that they barely have enough people to deal with the level of serious violent crime on and day to day basis. They would absolutely love to deal with shoplifters and ASB but they are too busy trying to deal with people who think it's normal to carry a machete to actually begin with the nonviolent crimes