CR - Assumption negates potential argument weakener

Correctly measuring the effectiveness of a town's or city's police force is a process that is more complicated than it appears on its surface. Police forces are generally said to be effective if they can demonstrate an overall drop in the overall per capita crime rate from one year to the next. Does this, however, really demonstrate true effectiveness? What if the majority of the crimes whose rates are significantly reduced are minor and nonviolent, while major crimes continue to go unsolved?

The criticism implied above of the described method of measuring effectiveness is based on doubts regarding the truth of which of the following statements?

The answer we are looking for is the one which takes into account the seriousness or severity of the crimes in assessing the effectiveness of the above method.


(A) Per capita, rather than overall, crime statistics are the most significant criteria with which to evaluate the effectiveness of a town's police force. -- This goes against the author's argument.

(B) Changes in the per capita rates of nonviolent crimes are the most important criteria with which a town or city government can evaluate the effectiveness of its police force. --- Again against what the author says.

(C) Changes in the per capita rates of minor crimes are among the relevant criteria with which a town or city government can evaluate the effectiveness of its police force. Incorrect

(D) The seriousness of crimes whose reduction is reflected by an overall reduction in a town's crime rate can be ignored when evaluating the effectiveness of that town’s police force. This is the correct answer and exactly points to what has been stated above.

(E) It is more appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness of the police force over an entire geographic region than in a specific town or city. Out of scope

OA is D

karthikpandian19 wrote:Correctly measuring the effectiveness of a town's or city's police force is a process that is more complicated than it appears on its surface. Police forces are generally said to be effective if they can demonstrate an overall drop in the overall per capita crime rate from one year to the next. Does this, however, really demonstrate true effectiveness? What if the majority of the crimes whose rates are significantly reduced are minor and nonviolent, while major crimes continue to go unsolved?

The criticism implied above of the described method of measuring effectiveness is based on doubts regarding the truth of which of the following statements?


(A) Per capita, rather than overall, crime statistics are the most significant criteria with which to evaluate the effectiveness of a town's police force.

(B) Changes in the per capita rates of nonviolent crimes are the most important criteria with which a town or city government can evaluate the effectiveness of its police force.

(C) Changes in the per capita rates of minor crimes are among the relevant criteria with which a town or city government can evaluate the effectiveness of its police force.

(D) The seriousness of crimes whose reduction is reflected by an overall reduction in a town's crime rate can be ignored when evaluating the effectiveness of that town’s police force.

(E) It is more appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness of the police force over an entire geographic region than in a specific town or city.