Canada

Policing is about protecting wealth and social hierarchy, not public safety or public interests. But no one who wants to invest more in policing will say this out loud, because they wouldn't get votes. So, complete falsehoods about investing more in policing to reduce crime are presented instead, as you and the article point out

Are you talking specifically about Canadian police? Because here in Denmark, the police make a big effort to prevent crime. As far as I know, it works pretty well.

Of course not all possible efforts to prevent crime can be done by the police, a lot of it is up to the government.

Complaining that it’s not preventing crime isn’t really helpful, since that’s not what it’s supposed to do.

It is helpful, because a large extent of the voter base does think that increasing the police personnel will prevent crime.

The answer is mental healthcare and economic opportunities. If you've ever been to a local jail, you'll quickly realize that the majority of people there needed a mental health intervention in their early childhood. Problem is that there's no will by anyone to do it. Parents are resistant because of the stigma. Even if they're not, the cost of mental healthcare is too high if it's not covered by insurance. Even if it's covered you get a p-doc once a month for 15 minutes. Nevermind trying to get a diagnosis from a child who can't explain their symptoms because their symptoms are just normal for them in the first place. Then you have to try different medications at different doses and get everyone on board to take the medication on time every day. That's all if you can get a doctor that listens to what a kid says. Doing all this as an adult is exhausting, can't imagine trying to do it as a kid and having to trust a number of other adults not to fuck up.

I'm surprised this is this far down.

Yes, there's several social changes that need to happen, but there's people that will committee crime regardless. Those people need to be kept separate from society.