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.
I like seeing interviews with people like Micah Mitchell. His statement says a lot. Open Mic speakers often express the exact same concerns.
Dallas Express does some great reporting.
Incompetent mayor is paid better than the USA president and is totally clueless as to the problems in his city and has honestly ignored as well as shown no true results of taking care of the biggest problems the city faces. WTF is he even getting paid for when he’s not producing results?! You voters and Dallas residents are insane and as Incompetent as he is not kicking him out and getting someone in that will actually try to get things done!
J S, we elderly feel the frustration. We VOTE but young people don’t get out and VOTE they complain about rent, gas prices, inflation. But they continue to do the same thing,”NOTHING.”
They attend all the concerts but want attend a City Council Meeting or PTA. When you are not in their faces you are not Voting.
Crime they see it but want do anything about it. The police department does have a good training department. Former Chief Renee Hall expanded the training department and implemented a physical fitness program. When the cadets have finished their training, all the cities come after them. They leave for a better pay and less stress I can’t blame them. The City Council makes about 60,000. May 6, let’s see how many come out and Vote. The elderly will be there! Let’s see how many politicians will be out
their. They pay people to hand out cards and put signs in their yards. They call that campaigning.
Don’t expect liberal Democrats to fix the problem. They will exacerbate it by making surveys, creating committees and then doing nothing. Why would you expect the same people who has created the problem to fix the problem. Insanity is to vote for the same types of people (democrats) over and over and expect different results.
Stop voting for any democrat in your city, and perhaps you’ll get your city back.
Vote Republican and they will get rich from corruption and blame their failure on someone else, and nothing will change.
You mean like republican Joe Biden?
Democrat leaders want crime because criminals are the Democrat’s asymmetric warriors in their demonic destruction of an ordered society. Criminals are the low-cost volunteer army in their war against you.
We will soon see John Cruezot prosecute those who self-defend.
Mayor Johnson’s cluelessness provides the best argument against a Harvard education. Rather than conduct a survey he should have just gone out into neighborhoods and talk to people. Did he do that? No. We can’t vote against this man because he “bribed” the City Secretary into dropping his opponent from the ballot.