Certain Dallas City Council districts saw notable year-over-year spikes in reported robberies last month, according to the City’s crime analytics dashboard.
Data shows that Council Member Chad West’s District 1 (July’s Crime Boss) saw the most dramatic increase despite logging more modest raw figures. Incidents jumped by 87.5% year over year, increasing from eight reports in July 2023 to 15 last month.
District 1 is located just southwest of Downtown Dallas, which has its own serious crime issues. The Central Business District consistently outpaces Fort Worth’s city center when it comes to a variety of criminal offenses, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Notably, Fort Worth’s downtown neighborhood is patrolled by private security guards and a dedicated police unit.
Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6 saw the second-biggest year-over-year spike in robberies in July.
Situated in northwestern Dallas, District 6 is known for being a hotbed of criminal activity related to the illegal sex trade, regularly clocking the most offenses having to do with prostitution and sex trafficking.
City data shows that 27 robberies occurred in District 6 last month, marking a 58.8% spike from the 17 documented during the same period in 2023.
District 3, which Council Member Zarin Gracey represents, saw a 30% year-over-year increase in robberies in July. Thirteen were reported last month, while 10 were reported in July 2023. The district is located in southwestern Dallas.
While the Dallas Police Department has been doing what it can to further reduce violent crime (including robberies), it has been struggling against a longstanding officer shortage.
Just 3,000 officers are currently fielded, whereas a City report previously called for closer to 4,000.
City leaders opted to allocate just $654 million to the department this fiscal year, far less than the public safety spending levels seen in other high-crime jurisdictions, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
