What is the primary limitation of measuring police performance solely by arrest statistics?

• A. Arrest statistics provide a complete picture.
• B. Arrest statistics overlook community outcomes and trust.
• C. Arrest statistics predict future crime.
• D. Arrest statistics measure public satisfaction.

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that arrest counts capture how many people are taken into custody, not how policing affects the community. Focusing solely on arrests ignores whether policing builds or erodes trust, legitimacy, and satisfaction with how police serve residents. A department can have high arrest numbers but damage community trust, or achieve crime reduction through other means while arrests stay low. Because of that, arrest statistics give an incomplete picture of performance.

In addition, past arrest numbers don’t reliably predict future crime. Crime trends are influenced by many factors—economic conditions, social programs, deterrence effects, policing strategies, and random variation—so relying on arrests as a predictor can be misleading.