City Councilmember Casey Thomas II Sees 31% Increase in Crime Score
Due to a staggering increase of 31.65% in Crime Score when comparing April 2021 to April 2022, The Dallas Express has given the title of “Crime Boss of the Month” for May to City Councilman Casey Thomas II, the representative for Dallas City Council District 3. This is the second time Thomas has been awarded the title in two months.
Previously, Councilman Thomas’ district saw a 24% spike in February 2022 over February 2021, which was the greatest of any Crime Boss installment until that point.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information, such as crime rates and trends in the city, should be easily accessible to you. Many are unaware that Dallas has more crime per capita than hotspots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York, according to data from the FBI’s UCR database.
As a result, The Dallas Express designates the “Crime Boss of the Month” as the Dallas City Council member whose district shows the greatest percentage increase (or smallest decrease) in crime for one month of the current year compared to last year.
For April 2021, the City of Dallas as a whole had a Crime Score of 221. That number increased slightly to 225 in 2022, rising by 1.69%. However, seven of Dallas’ fourteen districts saw their crime scores decrease.
This means that Dallas City Council District 3’s increase was a significant factor in the rise of crime citywide, contributing to an overall increase in crime despite a decrease in reports from half of the city’s districts.
Overview of Dallas District 3 Crime Increase by Category
Crime in District 3 significantly increased in four of the 30 crime categories for the Per Capita Crime Score for April 2022.
The most remarkable climb in crime for District 3 was in the category of Motor Vehicle Theft, a pressing issue in Dallas. While the district saw a total of 77 Motor Vehicle Thefts for April 2021, there were 179 reported for April 2022 — a 132.4% increase.
Other rises in crime in District 3 between April 2021 and April 2022 are as follows:
- Burglary/Breaking and Entering: increased by 13 from 2021, 41 versus 28.
- Assault Offenses: increased by nine, 51 versus 42.
- Larceny/Theft Offenses: increased by seven, 108 versus one 101.
Notably — just as District 3’s crime increase helped push crime up citywide even as reports went down in other districts — D3 saw crime fall in nine categories, yet the increase in Motor Vehicle Theft drastically overwhelmed the decline in other areas.
The categories that saw a decrease were: Homicide, Drug/Narcotic Violations, Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property, Nonviolent Family Offenses, Driving Under the Influence, Hazardous Traffic Violations, Disorderly Conduct, Trespass of Real Property, and Public Intoxication.
Of those categories, none saw a decrease of more than seven reports, and seven saw decreases of just four or less.
The Dallas Express contacted Thomas’ office for comment on the rise in crime but had not received a response as of press time.
How did your area stack up on crime? Check out our interactive Crime Map to compare all Dallas City Council Districts. Curious how we got our numbers? Check out our methodology page here.
For more Dallas crime-related news, see how Jesse Moreno of Dallas’ District 2 was named Crime Boss for the month of November.