A little late to the comments, and I guess missed some drama, but the last time I went during first Friday, we only saw one officer standing at the entrance from Exchange Plaza. We ended up on Martin St. and didn’t see any there, but I also wasn’t actively looking.
I know there will be plenty of people that disagree, but having visual officers isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The first thing that comes to mind is the ferry building in NYC and near Rockefeller center. There’s officers posted within the ferry station. You typically see officers around the National Mall in DC. That doesn’t make me feel unsafe. The last time I went up to Fells Point in Baltimore for a night out, I felt safer with the police presence. Both the police in NYC and in Baltimore were pretty heavily armed. Here’s my post about it back in 2023: Future of Glenwood South - #1120 by wanderer .
When I went to Paris, there was a heavy police presence there as well at the train station (Gare de l’Est).