Assault offenses have increased year over year in and around Downtown Dallas, police data shows.
The Central and North Central Divisions of the Dallas Police Department have seen an increase in assaults reported this year.
According to the City’s crime analytics dashboard updated on August 6, the Central Division (CD) has responded to 2,042 assaults this year — 7.8% more than the previous year. Its patrol area includes roughly 90,000 people residing from Fair Park to SMU Boulevard and from Oak Lawn to Lakewood.
Meanwhile, the North Central Division (NCD) patrols an area bordered by the City of Plano to the north and Northwest Highway to the south, stretching eastwards towards Richardson and westwards through Webb Chapel. As of August 6 this year, it fielded 1,593 assaults — 8.5% more than the year prior.
At the same time, the number of aggravated assaults clocked by both NCD and CD combined — a total of 633 — pales in comparison to the whopping 795 aggravated assaults reported in the Southeast Division (SED) alone. More alarming still is that the latter — which patrols neighborhoods around Parkdale Lake and Pleasant Oaks Park, as well as south of Fair Park — is actually down from last year by 245 incidents or 23.6%.
SED also struggles with response times, with only 44.3% of calls for service being met within goal times. This is in large part due to a significant officer shortage within DPD. The department fields about 3,000 officers, even though a City analysis based on population previously recommended a force of 4,000 to ensure public safety.
Nevertheless, City leaders approved a DPD budget of $654 million, which is unlikely to help the department reduce this gap and falls short of the sums allocated to law enforcement agencies in other high-crime cities.
Council members Adam Bazaldua (District 7) and Jesse Moreno (District 2) represent the areas seeing the highest number of assault offenses. District 7, located south of downtown, has seen 1,768 assaults — 573 of which were aggravated — and District 2, which comprises part of Downtown Dallas, has logged 1,627 assaults — 292 of which were aggravated.
Minority citizens living in Districts 2 and 7 are bearing the brunt of violent crime. The vast majority of assault victims were either black or Hispanic. Their ages ranged from newborns to those in their 80s, and the majority were girls or women.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information about the city, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible to you. 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.
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.