>>But the police union's phrasing—officers shouldn't make arrests "unless absolutely necessary"—begs the question: How many unnecessary arrests was the NYPD making before now?
Because if there are unnecessary arrests, it's a travesty of our court system. :-/
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/second_cop_confirms_nypd_arr...
Gah. "Begging the question" means assuming something is already proved. Alas, people misuse "beg" as a synonym for "suggests" or "raises"...
Your own link notes that the use of "begs the question" to mean "assumes the initial point" arose as a mistranslation of Latin. I see no reason to cling to that mistranslation as the only possible use of the English phrase.
Nobody is going to die if you don't arrest a guy for jerking it on the subway.