Many people think that the only way to remedy the problem of crime is by increasing the number of police officers, but recent statistics show that many major cities had similar ratios of police officers to citizens, yet diverged widely in their crime rates.
The author seems to disagree with people who think that increasing police numbers is the only way to reduce crime. There’s no outright statement of disagreement, but the rest of the argument proceeds as though disputing those people’s view. Specifically, the author cites statistical evidence: various cities with similar police-to-population ratios have very different crime rates. This leads to the implied conclusion that boosting police numbers isn’t the only way to lower crime rates.
The statistics cited in the argument are support (i.e. a premise) for the implicit conclusion that it is not the case that increasing police numbers is the only way to solve crime.
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