I read another study, though I can’t recall where at the moment, that instead of paying law enforcement, putting the money into social programs in a small community was just as effective, but that probably wouldn’t scale to entire countries. That being said, it’s not like I would go out and rob a place just because the police are no longer a threat. I would imagine many others would feel the same. I don’t know about Canada, but in America, citizen’s arrest can be a deterrent as well.

There’s precedent of living without police (in US, sorry I don’t know enough about Canada). The US didn’t have an organized police force until 1838 (https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/). Before that, and in some places even after that point, the military was used to enforce laws. Hell, in theory, it’s one of the purposes for the US 2nd amendment.

I’m sure that some amount of minimal law enforcement presence reduces some amount of minimal crimes, but what crimes? If someone steals makeup from a supermarket and there’s no law enforcement to arrest them, how much damage was caused, versus everyone paying into a system that streamlines putting people into a prison system? If it’s a serious crime, like murder, I’m sure the national guard, citizens, federal agents, or military branches, could do the work to arrest suspects. They have a different funding structure, and are already being provided a budget, separate from that of police departments.

Again, sorry for the US-centric viewpoint.