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Dallas Auto Theft Down 25%, Vehicle Break-Ins Up 5%

Dallas Auto Theft Down 25%, Vehicle Break-Ins Up 5% | Image by Canva

Dallas Police Department data through September 28 shows declines in several major offenses compared with the same point last year, including auto theft, burglary, robbery, and aggravated assault.

However, one of the most common offenses tracked in DPD’s daily CompStat report is moving in the opposite direction: burglary of motor vehicles.

DPD’s latest Daily CompStat Crime Briefing reviewed by The Dallas Express, generated September 29 and covering offenses through September 28, recorded 33,993 offenses in the categories included in the report, compared with 36,853 during the same period in 2025.

That represents a 7.8% year-over-year decrease across the offenses included in the CompStat report.

The decline, however, is not uniform.

Burglary of motor vehicles is up about 5% citywide, shoplifting is up nearly 9%, and several parts of Dallas show markedly different patterns.


What DPD’s Latest Numbers Show

DPD’s Daily CompStat Crime Briefing separates the offenses it tracks into violent and non-violent categories.

Violent offenses in the report totaled 5,529 through September 28, compared with 6,115 during the same period last year, a decline of 9.6%.

Non-violent offenses fell from 30,738 to 28,464, a decrease of 7.4%.

The report uses the date an offense occurred.

DPD cautions in the report that the statistics are preliminary counts drawn from original police incident reports and may differ from final Uniform Crime Reporting statistics published by the FBI. The department says figures can be adjusted throughout the year because of later reports or reclassification after investigation.

The report also explicitly states that it does not include all NIBRS offenses.

DPD identifies its Research & Development Division as the authoritative data source for the CompStat report.

The department’s Crime Reports page provides daily, weekly, and geographic crime reports, including breakdowns by patrol division, sector, council district, reporting area, and other measures.


Which Parts Of Dallas Record The Most Offenses?

Among Dallas’ seven major patrol divisions, Northeast recorded the largest number of offenses included in the Daily CompStat report through September 28.

Patrol Division 2026 YTD 2025 YTD Change
Northeast 5,676 6,108 -7.1%
Central 5,461 5,681 -3.9%
Northwest 5,369 5,653 -5.0%
Southwest 5,024 5,712 -12.0%
Southeast 4,122 4,129 -0.2%
South Central 3,704 4,065 -8.9%
North Central 3,636 4,240 -14.3%

The September 29 CompStat report shows Northeast leading the seven divisions with 5,676 offenses in the categories included in the report, although that total was still 7.1% lower than at the same point last year.

All seven patrol divisions recorded fewer CompStat offenses year to date than they did through the same date in 2025.

North Central posted the largest percentage decline, falling 14.3%.

Southwest declined 12%, South Central fell 8.9%, Northeast dropped 7.1%, Northwest decreased 5%, and Central declined 3.9%.

Southeast was nearly flat, falling just 0.2%.

DPD separately breaks out the Central Business District. The department’s downtown figures show 1,001 offenses in the CompStat categories through September 28, down from 1,265 last year, a 20.9% decrease.


Vehicle Burglaries Buck The Trend

The largest individual offense category in DPD’s citywide CompStat report is BMV (burglary of a motor vehicle).

The latest DPD report shows 10,744 BMVs through September 28, compared with 10,234 during the same period in 2025.

That is an increase of 5%.

The trend contrasts sharply with auto theft.

DPD recorded 6,329 auto thefts through September 28, down from 8,463 last year, a decline of 25.2%.

The Central Division section of DPD’s report shows 2,481 BMVs through September 28, compared with 2,059 last year, a 20.5% increase.

Auto theft in Central, meanwhile, declined nearly 28%, from 1,234 offenses to 889.

Northwest also recorded a sizable increase in BMVs, rising 12.7%, from 1,886 to 2,126.

Southeast rose 17.1%, from 610 to 714.

Northeast increased 7.3%, from 1,591 to 1,707.

Other parts of Dallas moved in the opposite direction.

North Central BMVs fell 13.4%, Southwest declined 5.3%, and South Central dropped 3.8%.

Those differences help explain why residents in different neighborhoods can experience sharply different crime trends even when the citywide percentage moves only modestly.

As The Dallas Express separately reported, Sector 140 around Lower Greenville has experienced a much larger year-over-year increase in thefts from vehicles than Dallas overall.


The Most Common Offenses In The CompStat Report

The largest offense categories included in DPD’s September 28 CompStat totals were:

Offense 2026 YTD 2025 YTD Change
Burglary of motor vehicle 10,744 10,234 +5.0%
Auto theft 6,329 8,463 -25.2%
Other theft 4,965 5,218 -4.8%
Aggravated assault 3,716 3,954 -6.0%
Burglary 3,401 4,041 -15.8%
Shoplifting 3,025 2,782 +8.7%
Robbery 1,259 1,524 -17.4%

The figures reveal a pattern that is easy to miss in a single citywide percentage.

Several major offenses are down substantially.

Auto theft is down more than 25%.

Robbery is down more than 17%.

Burglary is down nearly 16%.

Aggravated assault is down 6%.

At the same time, burglary of motor vehicles and shoplifting are both higher than they were at this point last year.


Burglary And Robbery Fall Sharply

DPD’s current citywide figures show 3,401 burglaries through September 28, compared with 4,041 during the same period last year.

That is a decline of 15.8%.

Business burglaries fell from 2,425 to 1,945, a decrease of 19.8%.

Residential burglaries declined from 1,616 to 1,456, or 9.9%.

Robbery declined even more sharply overall.

DPD recorded 1,259 robberies through September 28, compared with 1,524 at the same point last year — a decline of 17.4%.

Business robbery fell 34%, while individual robbery declined 13.6%.


Aggravated Assault And Homicide Also Decline

The DPD report shows aggravated assault falling from 3,954 offenses through September 28, 2025, to 3,716 this year, a decrease of 6%.

Family-violence aggravated assaults declined 3.5%, from 1,220 to 1,177.

Non-family-violence aggravated assaults fell 7.1%, from 2,734 to 2,539.

Murder and non-negligent manslaughter also declined.

DPD recorded 95 such offenses through September 28, compared with 104 during the same period in 2025 — an 8.7% decrease.

The report notes that the murder/non-negligent-manslaughter category shown in the CompStat briefing is only one of three NIBRS homicide offenses.


Shoplifting Moves The Other Direction

Shoplifting is another notable exception to the broader downward trend.

According to DPD’s September 28 figures, Dallas recorded 3,025 shoplifting offenses, compared with 2,782 last year, an increase of 8.7%.

The change varies substantially by division:

South Central recorded 185 shoplifting offenses compared with 145 last year, an increase of 27.6%.

Northwest rose 20.3%.

North Central increased 18.8%.

Southwest rose 15.2%.

Northeast increased 8.7%.

Central and Southeast, by contrast, recorded declines.


September Has Been Running Lower

The year-to-date figures tell one story. September itself tells another.

The latest CompStat briefing shows that through September 28, the offenses included in DPD’s report were running 23.7% below the comparable September 2025 count.

DPD recorded 2,867 offenses month to date, compared with 3,759 during the comparable period last year.

Violent offenses were down 21.7% for the month.

Non-violent offenses were down 24.1%.

BMVs were down 28.4% for September even though they remained approximately 5% higher year to date.

Auto theft was down 31.3% for the month.


DPD emphasizes on its crime-reporting materials that the figures are preliminary and can change as offenses are investigated, reclassified, or reported later.

The September 28 report nevertheless provides a current snapshot of the major offenses DPD tracks through CompStat: many are running below last year’s levels, while burglary of motor vehicles and shoplifting remain notable exceptions.

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