Vehicle-related offenses last month have driven up the criminal activity documented in Council Member Kathy Stewart’s District 10.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Council Member Chad West, who represents District 1, was named February Crime Boss of the Month for logging the biggest year-over-year increase in Crime Score out of all the Dallas City Council members. Stewart, however, came in second, clocking an 18.2% hike.
District 10 is located in northeastern Dallas, straddling I-635 between U.S. 75 and Jupiter Road. It includes the Northwood Heights and Lake Highlands neighborhoods.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, it appears District 10’s Crime Score increase was largely the result of steep spikes in motor vehicle theft and car burglaries. Auto thefts skyrocketed year over year in January, jumping from 62 incidents to 100, marking a 61.3% increase. Similarly, reports of car burglaries soared, almost doubling. There were 33 incidents in January 2022 compared to the 63 last month, for a 90.9% hike.
Council Member Stewart could not immediately be reached for comment.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Dallas Police Department has been having a tough time getting crime under control amid a longstanding officer shortage. The department currently only has around 3,000 officers patrolling the streets despite a City analysis recommending approximately 4,000.
Budgeting only $654 million for DPD this fiscal year, City officials decided to spend much less on public safety this fiscal year than other high-crime cities, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The City’s budget was adopted despite DPD’s officer shortage.
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.