The National Cheerleaders Association All-Star National Championship was held in Downtown Dallas over the weekend at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and was used by former Dallas mayor Laura Miller to downplay the neighborhood’s serious crime problem.
Miller cited the event as proof that the city center did not have a crime problem when speaking with The Dallas Morning News at last Friday’s Downtown Dallas Inc. luncheon, insinuating that the event would not have been scheduled there if the neighborhood was unsafe.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, crime in Downtown Dallas has steadily been on the rise over the last few years, with 3,102 crimes committed in 2020, 3,863 in 2021, 4,312 in 2022, and 4,698 in 2023.
While a record-breaking surge in motor vehicle thefts has largely driven the increase, car burglaries, assaults, and drug violations are also common. As of March 3, crime was up by 8.6% year over year in the area, with the Dallas Police Department’s Sector 130 — which comprises Historic Downtown and Victory Park — clocking the most criminal incidents (729) out of all the sectors.
DX reached out to Miller and presented her with the City’s statistics but did not receive a response by press time. Requests for comment were also sent to some of Dallas’ other former mayors, including Michael Rawlings, Tom Leppert, and Ron Kirk, but no replies were received before publication.
Miller caught some flak online following the Friday luncheon, where she contested remarks made by Monty Bennett, chairman and CEO of the Ashford Group of Companies and publisher of The Dallas Express, who raised the issue of the city center’s crime problem.
“Laura Miller is part of the problem,” wrote one social media user who responded to a repost by Bennett, likening the city center to a “war zone.”
“Those are comments from the worst mayor ever. She was more concerned with potholes than the safety and growth of Dallas. The fact that she even thinks anyone cares what she thinks is laughable. Go home Laura and close the drapes,” posted another.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a monthly comparative crime study conducted by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association (MCBA) tracks the crime differentials between Downtown Dallas and Fort Worth’s city center. The former regularly outpaces the latter by a wide margin when it comes to auto thefts, assaults, drug crimes, vandalism, and car burglaries.
According to MCBA’s January 2024 study, there were roughly 24 times more auto thefts, six times more assaults, and 35 times more criminal property damage incidents in Downtown Dallas than in Fort Worth’s city center.
“I was parking at a lot close to job in [Downtown Dallas] & see roughly 8 piles of glass in spots. Clear signs of broken car windows from an apparent event that weekend. I see them regularly. Homeless people everywhere. I can’t walk to store without being stopped. Every. Single. Day,” wrote another social media user.
Bennett attributed the downtown crime situation to DPD’s long-standing officer shortage because of the city manager’s refusal to allocate the proper resources.
“I love Dallas. But the facts speak for themselves,” Bennett told DX on Saturday. “Downtown crime is out of control because we refuse to properly resource our capable police department.”
Budgeting only $654 million for the department this year, the Dallas City Council voted to spend much less taxpayer money on law enforcement than other high-crime jurisdictions, like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. With only around 3,000 officers in the field, DPD is well short of the roughly 4,000 recommended by a prior City analysis.