Dallas saw a year-over-year bump in overall crime last month, clocking spikes in several categories of criminal offense.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, officials logged a 7.5% jump in criminal activity in November, with the number of recorded incidents increasing from 7,995 to 8,594.
The Dallas Police Department has been operating well below the staffing levels recommended by a City report, which advised around 4,000 officers are needed to properly maintain public safety in a municipality the size of Dallas. DPD currently only fields about 3,000 officers. The shortage can be felt in Downtown Dallas, which logs far more crime than Fort Worth’s city center. The latter is patrolled by a specialized police unit and private security guards.
Every single Dallas City Council district, except for Districts 4, 5, 6, and 10, saw a year-over-year increase in crime of 1% or more. Spikes in motor vehicle thefts, car burglaries, simple assaults, vandalism, thefts, burglaries, shoplifting, and kidnappings drove citywide figures upward.
City officials recorded the greatest increases in the districts represented by Council Members Paul Ridley (14) and Cara Mendelsohn (12), which clocked spikes of 22.2% and 21.1% in November, respectively. Despite the steep increase in District 12, the jurisdiction had the lowest number of criminal offenses committed last month out of all the council districts.
The two council districts with the highest number of offenses reported last month were Districts 2 and 6. Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2 logged 958 offenses, and Council Member Omar Narvaez’s clocked 961.
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.