Stats on police work

[Christian Liberty]

Does anyone have any stats on how many police actions are in order to stop "victimless crimes" vs actual ones?

Mind you, I know this is semi-subjective on a few points, but I'm wondering if there are any hard numbers available here. I've been getting into some discussions that have gone along these lines lately, so I'd like to have some real stats to use.

[fisharmor]

I doubt you'll find any, and the stats you do find will have been accumulated by someone other than the police, and for the purpose of making some political point.

It's not in the interest of the police for them to keep accurate records. If they did, people might get the idea that 97% of what they do is hand out tickets for going 5 over the limit, and the other 3% is just opportunity busts associated with traffic tickets.

[Christian Liberty]

I doubt you'll find any, and the stats you do find will have been accumulated by someone other than the police, and for the purpose of making some political point.

It's not in the interest of the police for them to keep accurate records. If they did, people might get the idea that 97% of what they do is hand out tickets for going 5 over the limit, and the other 3% is just opportunity busts associated with traffic tickets.

Someone recently claimed to me that the majority (I'd assume this means at least 51%) of police work deals with murder, violent crimes (including theft) and drunk driving (Yes, I realize drunk driving in and of itself is a victimless crime, but I also didn't really want to fight that point when DWI often is dangerous and there were so many easier things to fight.) I'm looking for a way to disprove his assertion, if possible.

[presence]

2009

429,000 Violent Crimes per year in the US
3,036,000 Property Crimes per year in the US
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0306.pdf


41 million people receive speeding tickets annually

http://blog.esurance.com/speeding-tickets-where-does-your-state-rank/#.VCtux60ewvA