I think it probably depends on how broadly we want to defuse that cost. I think there could be an accounting orientation that would say if we offset some aspect of policing services and say we're going to shove this over to mental health, we're going to use this community service agency to help us with a gang reduction strategy, the budget of the police department itself might be reduced. But the more difficult issue to get one's mind around in terms of the overall investment in safety and crime prevention might perhaps be static, although again that assumes some level of a fair degree of constancy in the number of police personnel. If technology reaches a point where large aspects of police operations can be moved from performance by individuals to performance by technology, it's possible there could be a very large savings if large numbers of people, large segments of a force, are no longer needed because we have other ways to deliver that same service.
On February 7th, 2013. See this statement in context.