City Manager T.C. Broadnax has been unable to restore full functionality to the City’s crime statistics operations more than two months after a purported ransomware attack allegedly disrupted some of the City’s computer systems.
According to Police Chief Eddie Garcia, the lack of reliable and up-to-date crime data has forced the Dallas Police Department to rely on old statistics to inform its hotspot-based Violent Crime Reduction Plan.
“The criminologists are waiting for the data so we can start working on the next grids — because we switch every 60 days — and so now we’re operating more from a historic perspective … going into the summer,” Garcia told The Dallas Express in a previous interview. “We’re getting some information, but it’s hampered our ability to really be data-driven, so we’re very much anxious to get back online.”
In addition to disrupting police operations — which already suffer from a staffing shortage of roughly 900 officers — Broadnax’s failure to resolve whatever issues may have been caused by the alleged ransomware attack has prevented Dallas residents from getting an accurate picture of the crime happening in their city.
The City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard previously served as an informative tool for the public. Using its various filters, anyone could see up-to-date information on how much crime was being reported and where it was occurring. However, it has been more than two months since DPD advised The Dallas Express not to use the dashboard data when reporting on crime.
The Dallas Express contacted the City for an update on its efforts to get its crime statistics platform back up and running.
“While the City has achieved 97 percent restoration since the May ransomware incident, staff continues working diligently to restore the City’s Open Data Portal to full operation, including the Active Calls dataset. While this will take time to complete, restoration remains a top priority, and we will continue to share updates as they are available.
“Police data and crime statistics are available on DPD’s website on the Crime Analytics Dashboard,” wrote Catherine Cuellar, director of communications, outreach, and marketing for the City of Dallas.
However, while crime statistics are viewable on the website, whether they can be relied upon for accuracy is another matter.
The Dallas Express contacted Kristin Lowman, assistant director of media relations for DPD, and asked her whether the dashboard was still unreliable for news coverage.
“Correct, they are not fully functional yet,” Lowman confirmed.
The issues with the City’s statistics come at a time when crime in Downtown Dallas has been rampant, especially compared to Fort Worth’s downtown area, which has a specialized police unit patrolling the neighborhood alongside private security guards.
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.
Curious to know how your area stacked up on crime? Normally, you could check out our interactive Crime Map to compare all Dallas City Council Districts, but as reliable data remain unavailable, this feature remains blank. Those interested in how we got our numbers previous to the ransomware hurdles can check out our methodology page here.