Last year proved rather dangerous for black and Hispanic individuals in Dallas, but some council districts were more hazardous than others.
Despite City officials touting a drop in some categories of violent crime, black and Hispanic people continue to be vastly overrepresented when it comes to crimes against persons, which include murder, assault offenses, kidnapping, sexual assault offenses, and human trafficking, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
According to the City of Dallas victim demographics dashboard, there were 25,949 assault offenses committed within the city limits in 2023, comprising “simple assaults,” “aggravated assaults,” and cases of “intimidation.” Of all the assault offense victims that year, 46.9% were black, and 35% were Hispanic. Of those black and Hispanic assault victims, 61.1% were female, with a median age of 32.
This trend appears to be playing out in 2024 as well, with 49% of assault victims logged as black and 33.8% logged as Hispanic. There have been 1,067 offenses clocked as of January 18.
In 2023, some council districts saw far more black and Hispanic individuals get assaulted than others, though each logged at least several hundred over the course of the year.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 clocked the most, with some 2,723 black and Hispanic people getting assaulted last year. The council district with the second most assaults of these demographics was Council Member Carolyn King Arnold’s District 4, with 2,487. Next came Council Member Tennell Atkins’ District 8 at 2,333, and then District 6, which is represented by Council Member Omar Narvaez, with 2,108.
All other council districts logged fewer than 2,000 reported assaults of black and Hispanic individuals in 2023.
Despite its considerable efforts, the Dallas Police Department is still struggling with a significant staffing shortage. Only about 3,000 officers are currently being fielded by the department, even as a City report recommends that a municipality the size of Dallas should have closer to 4,000 to properly ensure public safety and keep police response times down.
Budgeting only $654 million for DPD this year, City officials will be spending much less taxpayer money on law enforcement than other high-crime jurisdictions, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The effects of the officer deficit have been apparent in Downtown Dallas, which regularly logs higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s city center. A dedicated police unit and private security guards patrol the latter.