15. The proposal to hire ten new police officers in Middletown is quite foolish. There is sufficient funding to pay the salaries of the new officers, but not the salaries of additional court and prison employees to process the increased caseload of arrests and convictions that new officers usually generate.

Which of the following, if true, will most seriously weaken the conclusion drawn above?

(A) Studies have shown that an increase in a city’s police force does not necessarily reduce crime.

(B) When one major city increased its police force by 19 percent last year, there were 40 percent more arrests and 13 percent more convictions.

(C) If funding for the new police officers’ salaries is approved, support for other city services will have to be reduced during the next fiscal year.

(D) In most United States cities, not all arrests result in convictions, and not all convictions result in prison terms.（E）

(E) Middletown’s ratio of police officers to citizens has reached a level at which an increase in the number of officers will have a deterrent effect on crime.

答案是E, 但我选了A,还是不明白为什么A错

我赞成选E。但不明白ETS为什么解释D是irerelevant？我觉得D和论题还是相关的，因为它暗示不是所有警察逮到的犯罪行为都会被指控或者判刑，因此所需配套的法庭和监狱管理人员不是像想象中那么多。这也算削弱吧？只是比不上E那么强烈的否定而已。