A little anecdotal but I have lived in the heart of a downtown area (not a major city but decent population) for 25 years now, and we recently cut some funding

A little anecdotal but I have lived in the heart of a downtown area (not a major city but decent population) for 25 years now, and we recently cut some funding for the local PD, which was very politically heated due to the Police Chief's city hall connections. What happened afterward was immediately noticeable - the police force seems to have very little interest in doing their jobs ever since then. The response time for a call has gone way up, and sometimes they do not even show up at all. On my particular street, which is nestled in a high-ish crime area, we formed a neighborhood watch and have a police liason we speak to but most residents are completely unwilling to call the police anymore because it is super pointless and exasperating. My breaking point was when I caught a mail thief red handed, my mail still sticking out of his bag, and flagged down a cop that happened to be nearby. They refused to even listen to me and the guy just walked away. So, part of me wonders if the city's crime stats have "dropped" due to people just giving up on reporting crimes. Of course this is super difficult to prove and I don't think it's a national trend but definitely something I and my neighbors have observed in my city.