At the start of this month, the public crime data used in The Dallas Express Crime Boss feature initially created a false sense of security. Based on incomplete figures available at the time, it appeared as though crime had gone down drastically citywide, with some districts’ Crime Scores decreasing by as much as 60%.
However, as The Dallas Express reported, the districts’ Crime Scores were underrepresented by 54.6%, as the associated district for 6,257 of 11,593 crimes was initially not recorded.
When the correct data eventually became available, the city had actually seen a meager improvement in Crime Score when comparing July 2022 to July 2021: a 3.28% decrease.
The decrease in overall crime reports is even slimmer: 3.01%.
Despite that decrease, the city still saw an overall double-digit increase in four crime categories:
- Nonviolent Family Offenses: up 11.
- Animal Offenses: up 18.
- Trespass of Real Property: up 20.
- Stolen Property Offenses: up 20.
Meanwhile, the city saw 175 additional reports of Motor Vehicle Thefts in July 2022. Car thefts have been an increasingly prevalent issue in the city, which The Dallas Express has reported extensively.
While this slight decrease in the city’s overall Crime Score may seem cause for celebration (albeit lackluster), this figure may also foster a false sense of security. Though Dallas’ Crime Score may have decreased in July of this year compared to July last, July 2022, crime was still up from June.
A total of 8,543 crimes were reported in Dallas in June 2022. In July, that number rose to 8,896 – a 4.13% increase in crimes.
In June 2022, the city’s Crime Score was 305,345. In July, it was 314,320, 2.94% greater than the month before.
So, while crime fell slightly when comparing the same month across two years, it still rose from one month to the next.
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.
August’s Crime Boss, District 1’s councilman Chad West, impressively managed an increase in Crime Score of 38.35% in a city where the overall Crime Score decreased.
West agreed to an interview with The Dallas Express earlier this month but has not responded to requests for comment since asking where we got our statistics.
Curious how we got our numbers? Check out our methodology page here.
It remains to be seen precisely how our city’s leaders plan to confront the crime problem in Dallas.
How did your area stack up on crime? Check out our interactive Crime Map to compare all Dallas City Council districts.
