City Councilman Paul Ridley of District 14 announced Wednesday that he is seeking reelection.
“Join me in this campaign, and together, let’s take the next steps toward making Dallas an even better place to live and work,” Ridley urged voters in a release announcing his bid.
He went on to list his accomplishments during his first term. Unsurprisingly, his campaign did not mention efforts to get crime under control in his district. In fact, the word “crime” does not appear anywhere on the release, even though District 14 logged the third-highest number of reported crimes in November 2022, solidifying Ridley’s long-term contender status for Crime Boss of the Month.
The volume of incidents that month was primarily the result of year-over-year hikes in drug offenses and car-related crimes, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
However, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard, District 14 also saw robberies skyrocket in November, increasing by 75% compared to October.
More than 100 assaults were also committed against district residents and passersby, further engendering the frustration of a community under siege by dangerous criminals who are seemingly given free rein by City leaders.
The Dallas Express reached out to the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and inquired about some of the less publicized incidents that have affected the district. A DPD spokesperson detailed several violent encounters.
For instance, on November 5, officers responded to a call on the 300 block of North St. Paul Street, where a man had tried to flag down a car for assistance. An unknown suspect pulled his vehicle over near the man and then fired several shots at him with a gun, hitting him at least once and sending him to the hospital.
That same day, someone robbed a Shell gas station and convenience store on Greenville Avenue, just east of Highway 75. DPD said a male suspect entered the shop around 12:45 a.m. and brandished a firearm. The suspect pointed the gun at the clerk and demanded cash, which he promptly received before fleeing the scene.
On November 6, several unidentified men beat a male victim at the Greenville Avenue nightclub Room 3606. During the late-night assault, some of the suspects robbed the man, taking jewelry off his person.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, car thefts and burglaries have skyrocketed in Dallas. One such incident occurred on November 11 around 10:30 a.m., when a man confronted a male suspect on the 1900 block of Caddo Street who was burglarizing his car.
The suspect responded by menacing the car’s owner with a knife, prompting the owner to defend himself by pulling out a gun, which ultimately scared off the suspect.
On November 13, in the middle of the afternoon, a stray bullet blew through a window into a man’s apartment unit at 1800 North Field St. Luckily, no one was hurt.
More than a week later, on November 23, an unknown suspect severely beat a man with a walking cane, hitting him repeatedly on the head with it on the 2000 block of Commerce Street.
DPD told The Dallas Express about other violent crimes committed in Ridley’s district in November, which helped to make the community he represents one of the city’s top crime hotspots that month.
With a city council election rapidly approaching, it remains to be seen whether Ridley will keep his seat in light of the lawlessness affecting his constituents.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information about the city, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible to you. Dallas has more crime per capita than hotspots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York, according to data from the FBI’s UCR database.
How did your area stack up on crime? Check out our interactive Crime Map to compare all Dallas City Council Districts. Curious how we got our numbers? Check out our methodology page here.