In an email to The Dallas Express, District 3 Councilman Casey Thomas II explained that he was on spring recess when contacted about the crime rising in his district. The increase in District 3’s crime, when comparing February 2021 and ’22, earned the Dallas City Council member the “Crime Boss of the Month” title for March.
“I have discussed the increases in crime areas that you pointed out with Chief Garcia,” Councilman Thomas wrote. “Over the next few weeks, we will look at those individual areas and identify where we have had an increase in the district and what can be done to address it.”
Councilman Thomas also explained that while his office was staffed during his absence, it was not equipped to respond to the concerns on short notice, and he would keep The Dallas Express abreast of anything he and Chief Garcia come up with to address the problems.
The Dallas Express awards the title “Crime Boss of the Month” to the Dallas City Council member whose district has experienced the most significant percentage increase (or most minor decrease) in crime every month.
District 3 had a 24% increase in crime when comparing February 2021 to February 2022, the most significant rise in Dallas’ fourteen districts.
District 3 saw an increase in ten of the thirty crime categories for February 2022, while the number of crimes in another eleven remained constant. None of the categories that saw a decrease in crime saw a drop of more than nine reported incidents.
The most significant jump in crime for District 3 occurred in the category of Motor Vehicle Theft, a problem that is all too familiar to the City of Dallas. While most districts experienced an increase in this category when comparing the same month over two consecutive years, District 3 saw Motor Vehicle Theft increase by a whopping 87%, from 78 reported instances in February 2021 to 146 in 2022.
According to the Dallas City Council NIBRS Weekly Admin Report from March 8, District 3 had 114 Motor Vehicle Thefts from January 2021 through February of the same year. In the same period for 2022, that number increased to 193 — an uptick of 79 instances. (Motor Vehicle Theft for the entire city totaled 2,302 incidents in 2022 through the first two months of the year, compared to 1,795 in 2021.)
District 3 also saw a double-digit increase in Larceny/Theft Offenses, from 83 in February 2021 to 101 in 2022, a 22% increase. Part of that increase is due to the thefts of catalytic converters, which have been on the rise in the City of Dallas and the U.S. as a whole. (The rising gas prices, leading to more fuel thefts, has likely also pushed theft higher in District 3 and the rest of the City of Dallas.)
Other crime categories that saw an increase in District 3 were:
- Assault Offenses, up from 30 in February 2021 to 38 in February 2022.
- Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property, up from 38 to 42.
- Trespass Of Real Property, up from three to seven.
- Family Offenses, Nonviolent, up from four to seven.
- Arson, up from one to three.
- Fraud Offenses, up from one to three.
- Disorderly Conduct, up from one to two.
- Counterfeiting/Forgery, up from zero to one.
When and if Councilman Thomas provides more information about how District 3 is working to reduce crime, The Dallas Express will publish a follow-up story.