Whatever society accommodates you will have more of. Accommodate helplessness and dependence on police, and you'll have more of that.
When I lived in a community further south in Florida our neighborhood was having late night vandalism problems. What did we do? We didn't demand more police coverage. Instead we organized and the men volunteered to take turns doing night patrols. On my night, me and my dog (at that time a protection trained Doberman Pinscher), along with my two friends Smith & Wesson, went out and walked the streets till about 2:00 AM. Vandalism stopped.
