Close to arrest after balls shown in public (5)
I believe the answer is:
overt
'in public' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'close to arrest after balls' is the wordplay.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close/ending of).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'balls' becomes 'over' (I've seen this in other clues).
The last letter of 'arrest' is 't'.
't' after 'over' is 'OVERT'.
'shown' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for overt that I've seen before include "Plain to see - manifest" , "This is not hard to see" , "Openly displayed" , "Done in an obvious way" , "Clear" .)