Police and Prosecutors Are Measuring the Wrong Things: How Data Misuse Harms Communities

Data is everywhere. Data-driven decision-making is appearing in nearly every sector. But data literacy, meaning a person’s ability to understand, analyze, and communicate with data effectively, is not yet widely taught. That gap holds back government and nonprofit organizations and prevents them from making informed decisions.

As a result, far too many police departments, prosecutors’ offices, and other local governments are stuck measuring outdated, harmful metrics. Arrest counts, conviction rates, and dollar amounts of fines collected continue to define “success” in much of America’s justice system, with truly devastating consequences for the very communities they are meant to serve.

Police success should not be based on the number of arrests they make or tickets they write. This flawed logic creates incentive to lock people up and fine their pants off, not keep a community safe. If we truly want public safety, it’s time to radically rethink what we measure, why we measure it, and how we use that information to build healthier, more just societies.

The Problem: Wrong Metrics, Wrong Outcomes

For decades, the primary indicators of a “successful” law enforcement agency or prosecutor’s office have been high arrest and conviction rates. But these numbers say absolutely nothing about whether justice was served, only that the machinery of punishment operated at full tilt. As the Vera Institute of Justice has documented in its Measurement Matters research, incentivizing high numbers leads to over-policing, racial profiling, and the pursuit of easy convictions rather than focusing on actual community needs or crime prevention.

Many municipalities rely on fines, fees, and asset forfeitures to fund local budgets, and small Michigan counties are no different. As documented in the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into Ferguson, Missouri, law enforcement agencies at times prioritize ticketing and fining vulnerable residents to meet revenue goals, transforming the justice system into a profit-driven enterprise. When financial extraction becomes a measure of success, trust between communities and law enforcement collapses.

How Data Misuse Harms Communities

Data misuse is using data in a way it was not designed to be used. In criminal justice, the harms are specific and well-documented. A focus on high arrest counts produces crackdowns on low-level infractions like loitering and jaywalking, disproportionately harming marginalized communities rather than addressing serious crime. Communities begin to see officers and prosecutors as adversaries rather than protectors, which makes cooperation harder and public safety weaker. Punitive approaches that ignore root causes of crime, including poverty, lack of mental health services, and educational inequity, perpetuate the very cycles of instability and incarceration they claim to address.

The damage also operates through omission. Community-based violence interruption programs, restorative justice efforts, and rehabilitation initiatives often go entirely unrecognized because they produce no arrests or convictions to count. Under the current framework, they are invisible successes in a system that only sees what it is already measuring.

What Should Be Measured Instead

To build healthier, safer communities, police and prosecutors must shift their focus toward outcomes that actually matter.

Data as a Tool for Healing, Not Harm

Data is not inherently good or bad. It is a tool. If wielded wisely, it can guide police and prosecutors toward strategies that genuinely heal and strengthen communities. If agencies continue to measure success by arrests, convictions, and dollars collected, they will continue to harm the very people they are sworn to serve.

It’s time to stop measuring what’s easy and start measuring what matters. Public safety, dignity, and justice demand nothing less.