A new poll released Wednesday shows that Dallas residents believe crime and public safety, education, and homelessness are the top problems in the city.
The recent survey, conducted by Garin Hart Yang Research Group on behalf of Mayor Eric Johnson, asked Dallas voters what they believed were the most important issues facing the city. The top answer was crime and public safety (38%).
Education (24%) and homelessness (22%) ranked as the second and third most important issues to respondents, respectively.
Micah Mitchell, social media manager and project lead for the local activist group Dallas Justice Now, told The Dallas Express in an emailed statement that most of the people citing public safety and education as a concern were likely from communities of color, which make up the majority of Dallas’ population.
“The Black community in Dallas wants safe streets and good schools, it’s very simple,” he wrote. “But Dallas leaders instead give us record high crime rates in Black neighborhoods, drug dens near majority Black schools, and refuse to let our kids have educational opportunities from charter schools. The racial disparities in crime victimization and educational outcomes have never been more stark.”
The survey results came on the heels of a year-to-date rise in violent crime. While violent crime has declined over the past two years, it is currently up 4.4%, according to a Tuesday crime report from the Dallas Police Department.
The same report shows that murders are up 25% and aggravated assaults are up by 9%, year-to-date.
However, the survey suggests that respondents believe in a solution. Roughly 83% of them indicated that it is important for the City to increase salaries, benefits, and training for police officers — both to retain qualified officers and to recruit new ones.
In a statement to The Dallas Express, Chief Eddie Garcia said the Dallas Police Department is continually working to “find new ways to recruit and retain high-quality members” to the police force.
“From better pay, recruitment pay incentives, new programs and units focused on employee health and wellness, to taking our candidate search across Dallas, the state and outside of Texas, we are ensuring we recruit the best officers and make sure they stay and grow within our department. Improving the work conditions, and the health and happiness of our employees in mind is a top priority for me and for the Dallas Police Department,” he said.
He added that the “men and women of the Dallas Police Department continue to work each day to prevent and reduce violent crime in our city, and ensure that individuals are held accountable for their actions, while ensuring our community knows we are a department to be trusted.”
Meanwhile, Dallas’ public education system continues to cause concern among parents and community members. In the 2021-2022 school year, only 41% of students in Dallas Independent School District performed at grade level on the annual STAAR exam, significantly below the state average of 48%.
Additionally, DISD’s graduating Class of 2022 only clocked an 81% on-time graduation rate, compared to a 90% state average.
Homelessness and vagrancy have also long been top concerns among Dallasites and not just according to the Garin Hart Yang survey. A recent poll conducted by The Dallas Express found that a majority of city residents thought the problem has become serious.
Another survey from Downtown Dallas Inc. found that 76% of downtown residents view homelessness as a “significant issue,” and compared the severity of the problem to that of cities like Austin, Houston, Chicago, and New York City.
While the City of Dallas has thrown millions of taxpayer dollars at the problem every year, the municipality has yet to try an approach favored by Dallas residents that has shown success in San Antonio, where officials allowed the nonprofit Haven for Hope to provide “one-stop shop” services in a contained geographic area.
The Dallas Express reached out to DISD regarding the findings of the mayor’s poll but received no comment by the publication deadline.