Better policing has contributed to a fall in the state's murder rate (though it did tick slightly upwards last year).
The International Maritime Bureau has said that better policing and improved security have reduced successful hijackings by Somali pirates this year.
Reform Scotland's report, Striking the Balance, says the key to better policing is to give each local authority its own force.
The answer seems to lie with more and better policing - but what constitutes "better" policing is still up for debate.
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More helpful than better policing, however, is the turn in public opinion.
"Success will be better policing, more transparent and accountable policing that results in crime being fought and reduced in ways that individual local communities recognise, " said Damian Green.
But some islands are showing that better policing brings results.
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Humdrum crimes are declining almost everywhere, thanks to better street policing and the ready availability of legitimate ways of earning money.
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Although a decade of better intelligence and policing has left Indonesia's terror groups severely depleted by deaths, imprisonment and changing sides, smaller networks persist.
So far, the proposed solutions have had about as much influence as previous federal directives admonishing Wall Street to do a better job of policing itself.
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The former rail regulator said direct entry into the police service had the potential to "change the face of modern British policing for the better".
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We've got better things for them to be doing policing their neighbourhoods in parts of Sussex.
The Liberal Democrats also want a bonfire of paperwork, the better to free up time for beat policing.
Such comparative research might show that America would be safer if it focused more on policing and Europe would do better by increasing sentences.
"The reason for doing the two together is I find it really important that an area like Hertfordshire is pulled together along with what we do in policing so we can get better delivery of services, " he said.
At the conclusion of the debate, First Minister Peter Robinson said the transfer of policing and justice was another step to a better future for all of the people of Northern Ireland.
Front-line policing in Avon and Somerset could not be done better by a private company and would be a step too far, its chief constable has said.
Given that voters are making their antipathy heard by means of their national elections, they might feel better represented if national MPs and governments played a bigger role in policing the boundaries of political union of the euro zone.
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Chris Hobbs, an ex-Met police officer who was involved in policing football before he retired in 2011, believes there should be better advice from the Foreign Office and football clubs for fans travelling abroad.
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He is hastily politicising policing by introducing elected commissioners, when more elected mayors would be a better idea.
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