I'd say, experimental results show that the canadian way produces safer civil society. But then, I'm completely biased, being Canadian.
Anyhow, I do feel much safer in any Canadian city than in the places I've been to in the US. Just compare crime rates for major cities and you'll see for yourself.
The dangerous US cities in some other border states throw off the perception, but there is a heck of a lot of difference between Detroit and Toronto other than law enforcement!
In general, it's the rust belt and deep south and Mexican border states which skew US homicide rates; the parts which border Canada have similar homicide rates to Canada (again aside from rust best + Illinois).
It's actually a bit funny - states near Canada have similar homicide rates to Canada. States near Mexico have similar homicide rates to Mexico (much lower than Mexico, but higher than some other states). States near the Caribbean have rates like the Caribbean (again much lower than the Caribbean, but again higher than other states).
Not sure how the mid Atlantic states work into that analogy, haha :)
If you compare the population density instead of a map, the situation is different. Québec, British Columbia and Ontario are the most populous areas yet they have to lowest murder rate. Compare that with Texas, California, New York, Florida, ...
My guess would be that law enforcement doesn't do much at all for public safety and the level of violence in any given area is probably driven by economic or other factors.
