According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, in 2016, of the 1,183,933 violent offenses reported to police, 45.6 percent were cleared by arrest or exceptional means. Of the 7,319,177 property offenses reported to police in 2016, only 18.3 percent were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.

"In the UCR Program, a law enforcement agency reports that an offense is cleared by arrest, or solved for crime reporting purposes, when three specific conditions have been met. The three conditions are that at least one person has been:

"• Arrested.
"• Charged with the commission of the offense.
"• Turned over to the court for prosecution (whether following arrest, courtsummons, or police notice).

In 2015, law enforcement agencies in the US made 10,797,088 arrests for all offenses, of which 1,488,707 were drug arrests, 505,681 were for violent offenses, and 1,463,213 were for property offenses. Although the intent of a 'War on Drugs' may have been to target drug smugglers and 'King Pins,' of the 1,488,707 arrests for drug law violations in 2015, 83.9% (1,249,025) were for mere possession of a controlled substance. Only 16.1% (239,682) were for the sale or manufacturing of a drug.