Reliable city crime statistics are still unavailable to the public nearly two months after a ransomware attack purportedly targeted several City of Dallas computer systems.
While most public-facing City services have been brought back online, City Manager T.C. Broadnax has thus far failed to restore the Dallas Police Department’s ability to keep residents informed about crime in their community.
The Dallas Express reached out to DPD and was informed by Kristin Lowman, assistant director of media relations for the department, that the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard — which typically displays a running count of reported crimes within the city limits — cannot be relied upon for accurate data.
She noted further that related dashboards detailing police response times and crime victim demographics are also currently displaying incomplete data.
Prior to May 3, the date of the alleged cyberattack, Dallas was suffering from an alarming rise in murders. Criminal homicides were up by more than 20% year over year in the first four months of 2023.
The significant delay in restoring functionality to the City’s crime tabulation system also comes as police response times in Dallas have been logging alarming highs amidst a department shortage of roughly 500 police officers.
To deal with the shortage, DPD will require certain “non-emergency” criminal offenses to be reported online starting July 3, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The shortage of officers has been especially felt in Downtown Dallas, which consistently logs more crime than the downtown area of Fort Worth, where dedicated police units and private security guards regularly patrol. A similar public safety dynamic is currently at play in Deep Ellum, which has reportedly yielded some positive outcomes.
Council Member Jesse Moreno (District 2) claimed last month that Deep Ellum is now “just as safe as any other neighborhood in the city of Dallas.”
The City’s computer systems were allegedly hacked by a cyber-criminal group known as Royal, which purportedly threatened to leak the sensitive personal data of City employees if the City did not pay a ransom. As of June 26, no hacked data has been posted by the group.
Royal reportedly targeted the Dallas Central Appraisal District last year, securing a $170,000 payment in cryptocurrency from the government office.
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.
