Do We Need the Police?

Edwin raymond says police use arrest quotas in part to keep itself relevant and to generate revenue. This style of policing was made famous in new york in the 19 nineties under police commissioner bill bratton. The idea was that aggressively enforcing even minor crimes, like breaking a window or jumping a subway turn style, was an effective way to prevent bigger crimes. But many of these summonses are for low level offences, which you could argue are more costly to the suspect than helpful to so ety.