Rounding up the bad guys at $2.50 each

there's certainly nothing wrong with rounding up the bad guys and taking criminals off the streets (assuming they're guilty, of course) ... and the benefit to society certainly goes well beyond whatever is seized by the police during the arrests ...

still, the following information from the story below struck me as a bit absurd ... the article's author pointed out that 10,000 criminals were rounded up in the last week across the country ... 10,000 ... he also went on to highlight that more than $25,000 in illegal cash was seized in these raids ... do the math ... that's a whopping $2.50 per criminal ... $2.50 ... 10,000 people accused of all kinds of horrible crimes and the author felt compelled to point out that effective law enforcement netted a whopping $2.50 per criminal ...

i can just hear the desk sergeant at police headquarters saying to each person arrested: "put any loose change you have in your pockets in this little dish" ...

source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=383&e=7&u=/kcci/20050414/lo_WCVB/2671633

It's a law enforcement dragnet like never before, as nearly 300 fugitives were rounded up in Massachusetts and more than 10,000 across the country. <skip>

"Operation Falcon has led to the highest number of arrests ever recorded for a single initiative of its kind," U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales said.

Of the thousands arrested, 285 fugitives were picked up in Massachusetts on warrants charging them with narcotics violations, assaults, sexual offenses, firearms violations and robberies.

It was not just fugitives taken off the streets -- the combined task force seized considerable quantities of drugs, firearms and more than $25,000. <skip>

i can just hear the desk sergeant at police headquarters saying to each person arrested: "put any loose change you have in your pockets in this little dish" ...

This is the best line I've heard all week.