I thought the officer was just being honest. Maybe I am blasé about it because I drive an eight-year-old beat-up Honda that is dirty and smelly inside, thanks to my dogs and their owner.

But many people in my area do own nicer vehicles, and they are worried.

In Toronto, home invasions and break-ins for car thefts shot up 400 per cent last year, according to city police. Of about 1,600 vehicles that were stolen since the start of this year, only 41 cases have been solved.

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A house contractor I hired two summers ago managed to save his Mercedes but ended up spending several days in hospital after several teenagers trying to steal it in a shopping mall parking lot beat him up.

Auto theft is big business not only in Toronto, but in other major Canadian cities as well. Police seem to have given up – just ask your insurers to take care of it.

But to be fair, a lack of interest in minor crimes among police forces is hardly unique to Canada. Across the Western world, police in many countries increasingly tolerate petty crimes, and sometimes not-so-petty crimes.

Police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, no longer respond to any requests for help other than what they call “in-progress emergencies” between the hours of 3am to 7am. You can, however, leave a message, though there is no guarantee when it will be answered.

It reminds me of the Purge hit movie franchise where across America, every year for one night, all crimes are allowed, including murder. Here, though, in real-life Pittsburgh, you can have a nightly mini-purge. Christmas came way too early for criminals.

At least 22 cities across the United States have had their police forces defunded, resulting in reduced service and personnel. Defunding has to do with police reforms because some forces are seen as racist or violent and even murderous towards ethnic minorities, especially blacks.

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Across the United Kingdom, police forces are increasingly authorised to ignore minor crimes such as shoplifting and theft. In Scotland, police are planning to roll out a policy enabling officers simply not to file them on record.

Across Europe, in France, Belgium, Denmark and Germany, there are ethnic no-go neighbourhoods even police dare not venture into without armed backup. Sweden reportedly has more than 60 such “no-go” low-income immigrant communities across the country.

It makes me laugh when some Hong Kong people talk about how unfree they have become and what freedoms await them in Western democracies. During the 2019 anti-government riots, some protest groups wanted to defund the Hong Kong police.

Now that BN(O)ers in the UK and others in Canada and the US have had some exposure to the Free World, they may have a more realistic assessment about the nature of freedom.

Perhaps now more locals should be thankful that Hong Kong streets are still relatively safe compared to most other major cities across the world.

I am a lifelong fan of Thomas Hobbes, the 17th-century political philosopher for whom freedom from fear, especially fear of violence and a violent death, is the most fundamental freedom on which all other freedoms and rights are based.

You should be glad that Hong Kong police still respond quickly and efficiently – and usually quite politely – to almost every complaint and call you make to them.

My old expat neighbour in Hong Kong once called the police on my wife because she was afraid – or so she claimed – of one of our (ultra-friendly) but unleashed dogs. Five officers came!