Is visible policing really such a good thing?

Public reasurance is very high on todays agenda but by reasuring public are more people getting away with crime?

I was on foot patrol once, donned in the finest yellow high visibility jacket with 2 other pc's wearing similar atire. We hear an I grade call come up which happens to be down the road of someone acting suspiciously next to an cash machine so we trundle off to assist. We are about 3-400 yards away and we can see someone wearing a black & red checked shirt acting weird (cop instinct, he was just standing in such a place and way that it was obvious he wasnt waiting for anyone/anything) anyway he turns round and sees us so runs off, we're still a fair way off and his not done anything we've seen so we let him run. We get to the cash point, no sign of any modifications and nothing else of interest for us, we have a quick scout for the man in the black & red checks but no sign so we get back on foot patrol.

We're 1/2 way back to the station now and we get aproached by an elderly lady, she calls us over and tells us she had just been to the station to report her handbag being snatched earlier and just wants us to keep an eye out for the person who snatched it... yep a guy in a black and red checked shirt.

Now if we where less "noticable" could this have all ended differently? Maybe we would have got to speak to him, maybe he would have given cause for a search / arrest and maybe he was the mugger of this elderly lady.

Sure its a lot of maybes but one thing is deffinate, while we walk arround looking like we have been through a nuclear reactor anyone who has the smallest thing to hide will see us a mile off and be long gone.

Now it may be nice having police officers stand out whilst they are walking arround your neighbour hood sending all the pondlife running off but they arent there all the time (I count once a month outside my house) and I would be much more reassured if the police started wearing complete ninja gear and able to sneak up on the scum, least that way theres a chance of them being caught and having them off the street for a longer time.