Of every 100 burglar alarms police answer, 99 are false alarms. This situation causes an enormous and dangerous drain...

SamA September 16, 2019

Hello @AddisonPatton,

I like to simplify the problem to make it easier for me to remember premises and conclusions. Sometimes using your own words in your mind can be helpful.

Premise: 99/100 burglar alarms are false. A false alarm costs police 45 minutes and drains resources.

Premise: Alarms have the benefit of deterring burglars.

Conclusion: The only acceptable solution is to fine alarm system owners for each false alarm.

The question is asking us to choose a principle that would most strongly support the above conclusion. Let's look at the answer choices.

A) In this case, the "practice" would be owning an alarm system. This is incorrect, because the argument doesn't suggest banning alarm systems, but rather issuing fines for their misuse. Pay close attention to the details of the conclusion.

B) This is incorrect, because there are no "special services" involved here. Police respond to all burglar alarms despite the probability that it will be a false alarm.

C) Reducing the crime level throughout the area is never mentioned. Keep an eye out for answer choices that are beyond the scope of the argument.

D) This principle is too broad to be applied to our very specific scenario. "Anyone" is a key word here. If we do apply this to our problem, it suggests that legitimate burglary victims should have to pay for police assistance. That is not the argument that was made. Sometimes it is helpful to entertain the principle, apply it to the premise, and see if it ends up sounding ridiculous.

E) This is correct because it most closely mirrors the issue described in the passage. This is the only option that mentions a waste of public resources, as well as compensating the public in the form of a fine.

AddisonPatton September 17, 2019

That helps. Thank you!