I live in suburban Ottawa, Canada and the only time I see police constables is when I go out to breakfast; there's always a large group in the restaurant filling up before/after a shift. I'll occasionally see a police car on the road but rarely with lights a sirens on, except on public holidays when they hang out on the roadside to look out for drunk drivers. The lack of visible police presence doesn't make me feel unsafe - I know I'm just not seeing them because, outside of driving offences, there's just not that much serious crime in this area.

As for guns, I know other Canadians (not me) do have them, but I've never seen one. I prefer it that way because guns make me extremely nervous and when I go to the US, I'm constantly on edge. The only shootings that seem to happen here a inter-gang related; the victims always seem to be drug dealers who know their assailants....maybe there'll be a drop in this when weed is legal next year. I'm an immigrant and the police constable who was checking my paperwork at the airport on the day I arrived at one point reached for his gun holster but there wasn't a gun in there - he was using it to store his rubber stamps!

I feel really safe here. I'm originally from London, UK and the difference is profound. I was mugged twice there and sexually intimidated/threatened more times than I can count. The only catcall I've had here is when a group of teenagers in a car slowed down to yell "you look nice today, Miss!" at me. Then there was all the bomb threats and knife crime. It's just so much safer here.