In the UK police do serve as a deterrent just by being there. The more of them there are, the more visible they are and the more they build community links. I remember growing up we had local police who would always be walking a beat. Now you don't see any and if you do they are in a car, and consequently the public has lost the familiarity with them and now only ever see them in a negative setting. The police numbers are not vastly different to 20 years ago so i can only assume they're now all tied up with extra red tape and paperwork.
I'm not in a position to say there is a link and memes are usually misleading but this image is somewhat interesting as Snopes showed the figures are true. How does UK police training compare?
I find it particularly odd how there are increasing calls to defund the police, considering the same people have spent the last 10 years complaining that it is underfunded.