Just about the only value police have to your average citizen is as a deterrent to potential criminals- which obviously only partially works.

Courts have consistently held that they have no duty to intervene even if they witness a crime in progress, meaning they can sit there while you are robbed, beaten, or killed, and there is no recourse.

Property crimes for people like you and me are rarely investigated at all. I posted elsewhere just this morning that I've known people who reported mail theft with video of the thieves in action including their license plate number and the police did nothing. I know multiple people who have had break-ins, and all they do is file a report.

In contrast, they seem to have plenty of manpower to issue you traffic tickets and various other revenue generating citations.