Not that I think it's a good use of money in this case, but disproportional responses are what is expected and needed from policing. The other option is "well w

Not that I think it's a good use of money in this case, but disproportional responses are what is expected and needed from policing. The other option is "well we think this guy just bombed a street and raped 15 people but we've already hit the £54 budget so we'll forget about him, let's go spend £54 on some old grandmother who hasn't committed any crimes in her life". The issue isn't with police actions being disproportional to average budget per person, the issue is whether they make the right decisions on who and to what extent.