The City of Dallas Police Department’s administrative weekly report to the city council on May 11 says there has been a nearly 30% increase in car thefts city-wide this year in a year-to-date (YTD) analysis.
The Dallas Express believes that important information, such as crime rates and trends in the city, should be easily accessible to you. Many are unaware that 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.
As a result, The Dallas Express designates the “Crime Boss of the Month” as the Dallas City Council member whose district shows the greatest percentage increase (or smallest decrease) in crime for one month of the current year compared to last year.
According to the DPD report, by this point in May 2021, a total of 3,602 theft of motor vehicle reports had been made, compared to 4,626 by this point in 2022 the data — a 28.4% increase.
Although the City of Dallas District 3 saw either a decrease or no change in 23 of the total 31 crime categories, increases that have plagued that district and most Dallas districts — car thefts — earned Councilman Casey Thomas II the moniker of “Crime Boss” for the month for April.
District 3 saw 102 more car thefts by April of 2022 than in 2021 (from 70 to 179).
This is not the first time District 3 has seen reports of growing car theft increases. Thomas was Crime Boss in March after the number of crimes in this category jumped from a total of 78 in February 2021 to 146 in 2022, an 87% increase.
“I have discussed the increases in crime areas that you pointed out with Chief Garcia,” Thomas wrote in an email to The Dallas Express in April. “Over the next few weeks, we will look at those individual areas and identify where we have had an increase in the district and what can be done to address it.”
Although Thomas escaped the Crime Boss title in April, it was only by fractions of points. April’s Crime Boss moniker went to District 1 Councilman Chad West, as that district saw a nearly 13% increase in crime at 12.85%. District 9, led by Councilwoman Paula Blackmon, was second with a 12.74% crime increase, and Thomas’ District 3 had a 12.5% increase.
Thomas then told The Dallas Express that he spoke to the Public Safety Advisory Council about his concerns regarding the growth in crime.
“I met with our District 3 Public Safety Advisory Council last week to discuss with them community-based strategies for addressing crime and partnering with the Dallas Police Department to collaborate on effective crime reduction in their neighborhoods,” Thomas wrote.
Thomas has been contacted by The Dallas Express twice since being named Crime Boss of the Month for April, but no response was submitted at the time of press.
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.