There has been a significant increase in reports of shoplifting in Dallas this year, and the steady rise in incidents appears to be stemming from a single Dallas City Council district.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, as of August 25, 1,993 cases of shoplifting had been documented this year, marking a 13.9% citywide jump over the 1,750 reports during the same period in 2023.
Council Member Paula Blackmon’s District 9, however, saw an astounding 116.4% increase, with incidents spiking from 165 to 357.
The Dallas Express reached out to Blackmon for comment but did not receive a response by publication.
As previously reported by DX, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot had previously instituted a non-prosecution policy for thefts valued at less than $750. The short-lived experiment was scrapped after significant pushback from the community.
Relatedly, the Dallas Police Department has been struggling with keeping crime from getting out of control amid a longstanding officer shortage. Only 3,000 officers are currently in the field, whereas a City report previously called for closer to 4,000 to properly maintain public safety in a city the size of Dallas.
The Dallas City Council 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.
While Blackmon clocked the biggest increase in shoplifting, in terms of raw numbers, Council Member Gay Donnell Willis’ District 13 logged the most incidents so far this year. Some 415 shoplifting incidents were reported this year.
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.