Makes sense to me. The more things you criminalize and thus draw police into the more reason people have not to respond positively to police. Decriminalizing drugs goes a long way. I'd also argue that decriminalizing child support debt could go a long way toward preventing incidents like the murder of Walter Scott.
It may seem silly to say this, but it's also obvious; the best way to reduce crime is to criminalize as few things as humanly possible. However, this does require shifting away from a punitive approach to... well, everything. But I'm afraid this a hill Social Conservatives worldwide will choose to die on.
I'd agree, but you can push it one thing at a time. If we can at least keep police mostly focused on like, theft, violent crime, and maybe traffic violations that'd probably go a long way. Just break up fights, catch violent folks, get people their possessions back, and make sure the roads aren't a complete shit show.