There has been a significant hike in animal cruelty cases in Dallas this year, adding to the strains of an already burdened police force.
According to the City’s crime analytics dashboard, as of July 23, 86 animal cruelty cases had been logged this year. This represents a 43.3% increase compared to last year.
While this month’s Crime Boss, Chad West, saw only one case of animal cruelty logged in District 1 this year, Tennell Atkins’ District 8 leads all other districts with 16 cases. Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 and Kathy Stewart’s District 10 tie for second place with 13 animal cruelty reports each.
Overall, North Texas has an animal dumping problem, and this abandonment is considered an infringement of state law.
Dallas Animal Services has been chronically overrun by intakes from the field and owner surrenders, with 433 dogs currently occupying 307 kennels. Last month saw a live release rate of 79% for both dogs and cats thanks to adoptions and rescues.
The City of Dallas urges anyone who believes an animal’s life is in immediate danger to call 911. Otherwise, suspected animal cruelty cases can be flagged by calling 311 or completing an online form.
The Southeast Division of the Dallas Police Department has an investigative team of 10 detectives. It investigates animal cruelty cases alongside incidents of criminal mischief, burglaries, and metal theft.
This division has also logged the highest average response times, with only 44.7% of the highest priority calls for service being met within the goal time of 8 minutes. Non-urgent calls see even longer responses on average, with only 25% being met within the goal time of 60 minutes.
With only around 3,000 DPD officers fielded citywide, the department falls woefully short of a previous City recommendation of having 4,000 officers to adequately ensure prompt response times. However, meeting this staffing level is challenging, given that DPD was allocated a budget of $654 million this fiscal year. This is far less than the spending levels seen for law enforcement agencies in other high-crime cities.
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.