It very much IS socialism. The definition of socialism is the government owning the means of production. They "own" the police and the fire (hiring, training, equipping, etc), so...

Garbage collection, too, where that is paid through utility bills (at least in my community; but the city "owns" it). In many communities, water and sewers. The list is pretty long.

Denying this is an attempt to say "no, we don't support any socialism" even as you support those programs.

It's not a bad thing, either. IMO, pure capitalism or pure socialism is bad. They both have upsides and downsides, and the downsides can be extreme. If you blend both philosophies, taking the good from each, and discarding the bad from each, you get a pretty good system.