The primary purpose of law enforcement officers is to maintain the authority of the state. Preventing crime is an indirect activity. However, in thousands of years of organised goverment, its the best system we currently have.
Increasing police staff by 10% reduces violent crime by 13%: https://twitter.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/16507235903066890...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governe... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott#Major_works
Plenty of protests that challenge the authority of the state are completely legal. The state will not lose much authority if laws broken behind the front door of a family go unpunished.
Most of us here are lucky enough to live in a country where the laws were written for more than maintaining the authority of the state.
not really the same