All by itself, this would achieve little.
There are accompanying and ancillary actions that might well achieve the "fewer crooks/less crime" objective.
I'm pretty sure, though, that since People In Power (tm) really, really need for citizens to be dependent on that power, anything that threatens to actually reduce crime (or criminals) is going to meet with their disapproval.
I do think it would be an interesting exercise to a) reduce cop count and b) change the rules to make the citizenry more responsible for their own defense.
There would be a period of "boil off" during which a certain amount of increased chaos would ensue, after which, I imagine, that a much more civil foundation would be had.
We should limit this experiment to a single (good-sized) state to begin with.
Who would like to volunteer their state for this?