You don’t even need a thought experiment. The hard data is there. Police in my are, for example, cut enforcement by more than 60% back during the pandemic. Crime and civil violations shot through the roof to the point of chaos. I don’t remember the exact number, but it got bad, ignore the fact we already have some of the highest gun crimes in the country… They finally stepped up enforcement a bit the middle of last year and crime dropped measurably, but it is still higher than 2017-2018.
I am sure this has been a familiar thing across many cities.