Completely agree. Hiding the police behind a desk watching a camera or driving a car is not the way to go. These things are a lot less of a deterrent then having a few cops walk the beat in a bad neighborhood.
It's the same reason they took the cops out of the cars and put them on the street in New York.
Think about it. If your someone who's going to commit a crime are you going to be afraid of a camera that might have a person watching the screen that it's attached to? Probably not. How about a cop car that might drive by every twenty minuets or so with a cop in it who probably isn't looking hard around the streets he's driving on because he's on his way to a call or something. Probably wouldn't deter someone from breaking into a car and taking things. But, put a couple o cops walking the beat and watch how things change. The people who aren't doing anything bad feel more secure. The ones that were thinking of doing something bad will go somewhere else and the ones that are doing some thing bad will probably get caught.
There are some pretty bad neighborhoods around where I live and having a cop drive by make me feel just a little bit better then having a camera on a 30ft pole. Whereas getting to say hello to a pair of cops walking by me on the sidewalk makes me feel a whole lot better about my security of my surroundings. As if all I have to do is shout and they will come running to my aid and as unlikely that is to happen the other guy has got to be thinking the same thing.
Cameras don't make me feel secure, they make it feel like I'm being watched. A couple of cops walking the beat on the other side of the street? They just make me feel secure.