Police officers doing anything to protect individual safety or private property costs the government money.
Whether they're helping track down a smartphone or a private jet, the victim isn't expected to reimburse them.
The benefit to society of having police spend time and money to enforce the laws in theory, is that we get to feel some sense of security in our ability to continue owning things without having to fight off raiders, or walk down a street without getting assaulted/robbed.
Past a certain point of late-stage capitalism, there might be some resultant net negative effects to society, like when the masses are starving and the police are enforcing the property rights of the top 0.1% who are hoarding 90% of wealth/food/medicine. But in that scenario the top 0.1% are unlikely to be getting involved directly to track down a single laptop
Whether they're helping track down a smartphone or a private jet, the victim isn't expected to reimburse them.
The benefit to society of having police spend time and money to enforce the laws in theory, is that we get to feel some sense of security in our ability to continue owning things without having to fight off raiders, or walk down a street without getting assaulted/robbed.
Past a certain point of late-stage capitalism, there might be some resultant net negative effects to society, like when the masses are starving and the police are enforcing the property rights of the top 0.1% who are hoarding 90% of wealth/food/medicine. But in that scenario the top 0.1% are unlikely to be getting involved directly to track down a single laptop