A stronger police and security guard presence is to be expected in Dallas’ entertainment district over the next week as the neighborhood prepares for holiday festivities.
With an influx of visitors anticipated for Spring Break and St. Patrick’s Day, the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and the Deep Ellum Foundation (DEF) are both stepping up their public safety measures, according to CBS News Texas.
Since November 2022, DPD and DEF have joined forces to combat crime in the popular neighborhood by deploying off-duty police officers to patrol the neighborhood on busy nights and weekends, as well as set up surveillance cameras to monitor public areas, as previously covered in The Dallas Express. This targeted anti-crime strategy emerged after crime rates soared in Deep Ellum, leaving local residents and business owners calling for action.
The use of a specialized police unit has been especially touted by the authorities as being highly effective against crime.
“When we have officers coming from different parts of town, they aren’t equipped with being able to handle crowds or, for example, know how to deal and handle this public intoxication incident,” said Dallas City Councilman Jesse Moreno (District 2) at the time, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
According to the City’s crime analytics dashboard, District 2 has seen an 11.5% uptick in crime this year as of March 10 compared to the same period in 2023. Motor vehicle thefts, vehicle break-ins, assaults, and drug crimes are the most prevalent offenses.
District 2 includes the southern end of Downtown Dallas, a notoriously high-crime area, especially when compared to Fort Worth’s city center, which is patrolled by a specialized police unit and private security guards.
DEF has its own Deep Ellum security team, to which it will add more private security guards in the coming days. Eduardo Gonzalez, bar manager of the Revolver Taco Lounge in Deep Ellum, credits it for the uptick in public safety he has seen in recent months.
“It definitely feels a lot safer. I’d say there feels like there’s more presence, more support, not just [from] police but Deep Ellum security, which is really great — they respond to calls within 60 seconds,” said Gonzalez, according to CBS.
DPD has struggled with its response times amid a critical staffing shortage. It deploys roughly 3,000 officers despite a City report calling for a force of 4,000 to adequately ensure public safety.
While DPD has made several steps to boost its efficiency — such as making the online reporting of non-emergencies mandatory or piloting a new motor vehicle reporting procedure — nearly half of all calls haven’t met the goal response times this year, per City data. For instance, Priority 2 calls, which entail major disturbances and robberies in progress, had an average response time of 69.1 minutes, whereas the goal is 12 minutes.
The Dallas City Council only budgeted DPD $654 million this fiscal year, far below the spending levels on public safety logged in other high-crime jurisdictions like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
