Reminds me of the Stainless Steel Rat, where he is intentionally caught and sent to prison, hoping to further his criminal education. Only to find out he is now incarcerated with all the criminals that weren't smart enough to evade capture...

This is essentially Pareto resource efficiency for crime. Spending 20% of resources catches 80% of criminals. To catch the other 20% you have to spend exponentially more with exponentially diminishing returns. (This model is too simple though as the environment isn't static and criminals are able to learn and adopt strategies that make your efficiency decay over time)