In 2019, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson ran on a platform that included public safety, calling it a top priority. However, Johnson says that public safety is not just the responsibility of those employed by the City; it also falls on the shoulders of those living there — and Dallas residents have been the unfortunate witnesses to a 13% increase in crime since just last month.
Despite Johnson’s encouragement of city residents to “be a part of the solution by taking the Safe Summer Pledge,” crime in June 2022 was 6.75% higher than the same month in 2021.
In an email, Johnson’s office described the Summer of Safety program — which The Dallas Express reported on last week — as “a collaborative effort to reduce crime in Dallas by encouraging community involvement, volunteerism, and engagement with the city’s summer activities for young people.”
The emailed statement asserted that the program is important because “hundreds of minors are arrested for violent crime in Dallas every year. Keeping them safe and busy while they’re out of school is paramount to making the city safer and to providing them with opportunities to learn and grow.”
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, is committed to promoting public safety, not just in the summer but year-round.
That is why The Dallas Express 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.
Each month, this news outlet publishes the “Crime Boss of the Month” feature to keep the public informed about crime and safety issues in the city of Dallas.
And here in Dallas, violent crime — a primary focus of Mayor Johnson’s initiatives — was up 5.17% over the previous year for June.
Violent crime includes the categories of Homicide, Assault, and Robbery offenses. There were 1,068 such crimes reported in June 2022, compared to 945 in June 2021.
“Dallas Police cannot fight crime alone, and it must be a community effort with leaders and neighborhoods working with law enforcement,” Mayor Johson told The Dallas Express.
So, how are Dallas’ leaders doing at helping in this shared fight against crime?
To start, homicides more than doubled from June ’21 to June of this year, from six to 13.
Of those 13 homicides, Districts 4 and 13, represented by Carolyn King Arnold and Gay Donnell Willis, respectively, had three each. In other words, the number of homicides that occurred in the city as a whole last June was matched by this June’s homicides in just two districts.
Assault Offenses in Dallas increased by 3% in June ’21 – up from 739 to 761 – with District 13 again leading the way. Assaults in District 13 increased by 42.8%, up from 21 to 30. The Dallas Express reached out to Willis’ office for comment, as her district performed so “impressively,” but no response was received.
Meanwhile, Jesse Moreno’s District 2 had the greatest number of assaults overall, at 106 reports.
As for Robbery, offenses increased by a whopping 47% citywide. District 5’s Jaime Resendez led the pack, seeing crime increase by a massive 525%, from four reports in June of last year to 25 in June of ’22.
However, the district with the largest number of robberies was District 7, represented by Adam Bazaldua, with 45 reports.
“The Dallas Police Department continues to focus on increased visibility and resources in areas with high rates of violence across the city,” Johnson told The Dallas Express in an email. “We also are working on the second part of the Violent Crime plan by locating criminals and networks and disrupting their activities.”
In addition, the Dallas Police Department is also working on a “focused-deterrence” program.
According to the Department of Justice, focused deterrence entails “problem-oriented policing strategies … that target specific criminal behavior committed by a small number of chronic offenders, such as youth gang members or repeat violent offenders.”
DPD plays a vital role in helping to keep people safe, Johnson said, adding it is crucial that the City continues to hire more police officers to help reduce response times.
“But this isn’t just a law enforcement problem to solve,” Johnson’s statement read. “Public safety is everyone’s responsibility.”
Start by getting rid of John Creuzot.
And the rest of the elected Democrats.
You might want to consider The ACF plan?
We start with a medical center then pickup the vacant lots around the center, build affordable houses for young and recent hires from DPD, DFD, Paramedics and teachers. Then once the crime rate is stabilized or trending lower bring in a Grocery store.
I am in the process of this with Fair Park district 7.
Our plans are to take this template to Districts 1,3,4,5,7&8.
Once the Community assets are in place share 3% equity ownership with the community in each District.
Here is a list of our projects. https://www.advancentx.org/our-projects.html
You can’t have a Safe Summer program when the DA of Dallas County won’t prosecute anyone. Dallas has become a damn free for all unless you are the Police. Now any wrongdoing or misstep by the PD and straight to the front of the line with his prosecution team. What a damn joke. But let’s through the responsibility on the citizen. Yeah, that would require trust in the local government to keep them safe, hey buddy you do not have that.
I couldn’t agree more with the preceding comments. It’s not only the city attorney but the city manager that need to go as well. How much is he being paid and for what? The Mayor seems to get involved when issues reach a boiling point. Outside of that, he is pretty much invisible to the public. He seems to make an appearance or statement when things are spiraling out of control. Making a statement such as the need for the public to get more involved with fighting crime is not a solution nor will it have much of an impact when it has gotten to the point that people are too afraid to get involve for fear of losing their life. I’m all about the Dallas Express putting the crime issue front and center. I would like to see more stats on the reasons behind the numbers increasing. Such as, is the Dallas PD having to cover too much with too little or “stealing from Peter to pay Paul”? How is the DPD budget being allocated and who ultimately is responsible for finalizing and policing that budget? Why does the city pay ridiculous fees for outside consultants to come in to fix problems and make outlandish presentations after hundreds of hours of billing, that are never followed up on or even put into action. Time to clean house and get Dallas back to a city that it’s citizens can be proud to live in.
It’s the Mayor, City Council and the Police Chief!
Crime is a moral issue, not a government issue. The answer lies in teaching respect for authority, which has been taken out of children’s lives in the schools and the media.
It’s Children having children and parents not teaching morals, respect and they are accountable for only the streets.
They the children don’t stand a chance. The Mayor doesn’t care and the DA just want to stay in office.
The city council (men and Mayor) wanted Chief Hall out. She would go into the neighborhoods, not this Chief.
Here’s an idea. How about allowing voluntary prayer back in the schools. The crime rate has, in general, steadily increased ever since 1962 when the supreme court ruled against prayer in school. (Note the recent ruling by the supreme court siding with a Washington state football coach allowing voluntary prayer). Giving children a moral framework when they are young will make them think twice about committing a violent crime when they are older. I think it would be eye opening if the Dallas Express conducted a study along these lines interviewing convicted criminals, comparing their religious upbringing with a sample group of non-criminals of the same age.
Allowing voluntary prayer in school today, I believe, would make a huge difference in 10 or 25 years.
Wow, Chief Hall was held accountable for everyone crime that happened in Dallas. Does Dallas have a police chief, Mayor Johnson?
Send him back to California and put the DA on the bus with him. Oh yes and you can go with them.
You beat up on chief Hall every day she got up. You go to the neighborhoods and talk to the citizens about crime.
You let a good Chief go for a worthless one.
The best way to bring crime down in Dallas is to elect Republicans.
If the DA is not prosecuting every arrest, criminals will become more brazen, leading to crimes of a more egregious nature. We need more police and a better sense of supporting the police, otherwise, like anything else, about 90% of the blame will fall on city hall.
Dallas needs standards and follow through. It’s not for the citizens to bring up others children. One way to curtail assault and robbery is to have a curfew for youngsters in the streets at night- under 18 unless they are going to school or have a job in which they can have identification. Parents should be accountable for where the kids are, what they doing and who they’re hanging out with. No one wants to be responsible for anything. Mayor Johnston and city Hall need to get it together they’re doing poorly on crime. Since statistics are more than numbers they are the citizens of Dallas.