The Nation - News from July 21, 1986

Urban police departments could substantially increase the arrest, prosecution and conviction of career criminals by establishing special units to hunt down repeat offenders. That conclusion, based on a study of the Washington D.C., Police Department and financed by a Justice Department grant, said such units may be the answer to combatting criminals who commit five or more serious crimes a week. Criminals picked up by the Washington unit were more likely to be prosecuted and convicted on felony charges, and more likely to be imprisoned than those arrested by other officers. Unit officers made about half as many total arrests as non-unit officers, but the apprehensions were for more serious offenses.