One answer is that: police don't do what you think they do, police are not effective at what you imagine their job to be, and police are not trusted to be effec

One answer is that: police don't do what you think they do, police are not effective at what you imagine their job to be, and police are not trusted to be effective (so much crime goes unreported): https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/01/most-violent-and-property-crimes-in-the-u-s-go-unsolved/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/01/most-violen... Consider also that as you observe, even with the existence of policing as we know it, all manner of violent and property crime still exists.