An overwhelming majority of Dallas residents think the Dallas Police Department does not employ enough officers to maintain public safety, according to polling conducted by The Dallas Express.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, DPD has been struggling to maintain its ranks in recent years, falling well below the 4,000 officers recommended by a City report that states a municipality the size of Dallas should employ around three officers for every 1,000 residents.
Consequently, DPD response times have skyrocketed, and the department had to implement a new online reporting system for certain categories of “non-emergency” crimes, including shoplifting, car burglaries, interference with child custody, and identity theft, among others.
The Dallas Express conducted two polls over the summer, one in July and one in August.
July’s poll found that 91.5% of respondents who live in Dallas said that DPD does not have enough officers to keep the city safe. Around 7.5% said there are enough officers to maintain public safety, and just over 1% said there are more than enough police.
August’s poll yielded similar results, with 86.1% saying there are not enough officers, 11.9% saying there are enough, and just under 2% saying that DPD has more than enough sworn personnel on staff.
Both polls also asked respondents how many officers they thought DPD currently has policing the city’s streets. Roughly 80% of respondents in both polls said they thought DPD had fewer than 3,000 officers on staff, suggesting Dallas residents have been feeling the shortage.
Remarkably, roughly 20% of respondents in both polls said they thought DPD employed fewer than 1,000 officers. Staffing levels have reportedly been hovering under 3,200 in recent months, with City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year only authorizing the hiring of an additional 290 officers.
The shortage has been especially felt in Downtown Dallas, which routinely records significantly higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area.
“I heard the other day that there’s more people visiting the Stockyards in downtown Fort Worth right now than are going to San Antonio’s river walk,” said Metroplex Civic & Business Association CEO Louis Darrouzet in a previous interview with The Dallas Express. “That to me is a huge shift. They’ve created a safe place where you can go be in the community with your family and not be worried about your car getting stolen or getting assaulted on the side of the road.”
Downtown Fort Worth is patrolled by a dedicated neighborhood police unit working in conjunction with private security guards.
The recent polls also invited respondents to give their impression of safety in the city.
“In the last 30 days, have you felt unsafe or fearful while in a City of Dallas public space such as a park, street, or sidewalk, or refused to go out to a public space in the City of Dallas due to feeling unsafe or fearful?” the questionnaires read.
Respondents were then asked to rate how safe they feel in their city on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing very safe.
In both polls, a majority of respondents — 53.2% in July and 55.2% in August — logged a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
While DPD has made some gains in reducing certain categories of violent crime, murders are up by more than 7% year over year as of September 22. Additionally, auto thefts are up by more than 38%, and shoplifting is up by more than 50%, according to the City of Dallas crime overview dashboard.