Police take their orders from central government/home secretary who understandably prioritise issues like terrorism, hate crime, mass events (protest marches, football etc), media sensitive etc.
The general public want day to day relatively minor crime dealt with swiftly and effectively - burglary, street violence. car theft, vandalism etc. They rarely directly experience terrorism etc.
Unsurprisingly, given limited resources, the former takes priority - "he who pays the piper calls the tune". The consequences of (eg) mass protests out of control threatens social stability that shoplifting will never do.
Solution - take a leaf from the Spanish police - very broadly fund and organise policing into separate groups :
- Civil Guard has military status and deals with (national interests
- National Police - civil status and deals with criminal and public order
- Local police - your local bobby dealing with minor crime and local issues
The real benefit is that trivial local issues get dealt with rather than sinking down the priority list. It would also be a responsibility to which a Police and Crime Commissioners could add value - elected locally to deal with local issues.