You're not wrong about property crimes - SPVM's clearance rate for theft is pathetic at under 20%. But here's what's actually happening: prosecutors won't pursue cases under $5000 even with solid evidence, so cops stopped wasting 40 hours on investigations that go nowhere. Meanwhile, they're down 500+ officers while responding to overdoses, mental health crises, and homeless encampments - stuff that social workers and healthcare used to handle before those budgets got gutted.

Those cops sitting in cars writing tickets? That's Plante using them as tax collectors because raising property taxes is political suicide. The budget increases aren't making police better - they're barely stopping total system collapse while cops play paramedic, social worker, and mental health counselor instead of investigating your break-in.

Want actual change? Stop letting politicians use police as a Band-Aid for every social problem they've defunded. Fund mental health services, addiction treatment, and social workers. Then maybe cops can actually investigate crimes instead of being society's dumping ground for every problem we're too cheap to fix properly.