Data is everywhere. And thankfully, data driven decision-making is appearing in nearly every sector.
Unfortunately, Data Literacy, a person’s ability to understand, analyze, and communicate with data effectively is not yet widely taught, holding back government and nonprofit organizations and preventing 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As a result, far too many police departments, prosecutors’ offices, and other local governments are stuck measuring outdated, harmful metrics.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 amount 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.
It’s time for police and prosecutors to step up.
The Problem: Wrong Metrics, Wrong Outcomes
1. Arrests and Convictions as “Success”
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 will tell you, measurement truly matters. 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.
2. Revenue Generation Over Community Well-being
Many municipalities rely on fines, fees, and asset forfeitures to fund local budgets, and small Michigan counties are no different. As seen in investigations like the U.S. Department of Justice’s report on 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.
3. Lack of Outcome-Based Metrics
Police and prosecutors rarely measure meaningful outcomes (AKA, the stuff that really matters), such as:
- Reduction in recidivism
- Community perceptions of safety and fairness
- Victim satisfaction and restoration
- Root cause interventions (e.g., housing stability, mental health support)
Without these measures, agencies have zero clue on whether their work is actually meaningful.
So what does that mean? They’re all winging it. They aren’t making decisions based on data. And if they cannot measure whether they’re improving lives, they are most assuredly squandering taxpayer resources.
How Data Misuse Harms Communities
Data misuse is when an entity is using data in a way that it’s not meant to be used.
It happens in many disciplines, but here’s how you can tell when police and prosecutors are measuring the wrong things and wasting your money:
- Over-Policing of Minor Offenses: Focusing on high arrest counts often leads to crackdowns on low-level infractions (e.g., loitering, jaywalking), disproportionately harming marginalized communities.
- Erosion of Public Trust: Communities see officers and prosecutors as adversaries rather than protectors, making cooperation harder and public safety weaker.
- Cycle of Harm: Punitive approaches fail to address root causes of crime, such as poverty, lack of mental health services, educational inequity. Ignoring the root causes only perpetuates cycles of instability and incarceration.
- Invisible Successes: Community-based violence interruption programs, restorative justice efforts, and rehabilitation initiatives often go unrecognized because they don’t generate “traditional” bean counting or easy to tally stats like arrests or convictions.
What Should Be Measured Instead?
To build healthier, safer communities, police and prosecutors must shift their focus toward outcomes that actually matter:
- Community Safety Perceptions: Regular, anonymous surveys can measure how safe residents feel. This is referred to as qualitative data, and it provides far more important indicators than arrest numbers.
- Harm Reduction: Tracking reductions in incidents of violence, addiction-related offenses, and mental health crises shows true progress.
- Recidivism Reduction: Agencies should prioritize whether people are reoffending (and why) instead of simply celebrating high conviction rates.
- Restorative Justice Outcomes: Measuring victim satisfaction, offender accountability, and successful conflict resolution can redefine what justice means.
- Disparities in Enforcement: Agencies must measure racial, gender, and economic disparities in stops, arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing. Then they have to go one step further, and take action when disparities emerge in their data.
The Takeaway?: Use Data as a Tool for Healing, Not Harm
Data is not inherently good or bad; it is a tool. And if you aren’t using it correctly, then you too, are a tool of a different kind. 😉
With all seriousness, if wielded wisely, data can guide police and prosecutors toward strategies that genuinely heal and strengthen communities. But 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.
Sources:
- Vera Institute of Justice – Measurement Matters
- U.S. Department of Justice – Ferguson Report
- The Sentencing Project – The Problem of Mass Incarceration
- Center for Policing Equity – Data-Driven Interventions
