But reducing crime by increasing policing won’t get you “nice high-trust-society things”! That’s almost cargo-cult behavior: the low crime is a symptom of the high trust.
At some point, you’re worldbuilding an alternate society (of dubious plausibility) instead of considering the practical effects of a particular policy. You would ignore comparisons to such a world when making policy decisions for the same reason you’d ignore Cato’s suggestion of razing Carthage: it’s not really related to the matter you’re considering.
But reducing crime by increasing policing won’t get you “nice high-trust-society things”! That’s almost cargo-cult behavior: the low crime is a symptom of the high trust.
At some point, you’re worldbuilding an alternate society (of dubious plausibility) instead of considering the practical effects of a particular policy. You would ignore comparisons to such a world when making policy decisions for the same reason you’d ignore Cato’s suggestion of razing Carthage: it’s not really related to the matter you’re considering.