It is a huge problem. I don't fully understand the causes myself but corruption is likely to be part of it. People just don't have what is necessary to do their jobs and this demoralizes them. They start neglecting the problems ("I'm not gonna risk my life for this salary just to arrest some robber who'll probably be released anyway because he's a child") or become corrupt as well ("I'm gonna make some money on the side overlooking criminal activity"). Instead of stopping crime, the authorities seem to develop a state of equilibrium with it.

So it comes down to this: do you trust your government? I don't trust mine. I'd rather they decentralized public security instead so that people can at least try to do what they haven't been doing in decades.