Downtown Dallas has seen a surge in motor vehicle thefts and car burglaries, and much of it is happening in City Council Member Paul Ridley’s District 14.
City Council District 14 suffered a 47.2% increase in motor vehicle thefts year-over-year in February. The district also suffered a 22.5% increase in car burglaries, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
Overall, District 14 accounts for 367 of the 2,899 auto thefts that have been reported in Dallas this year.
District 14 includes the northeast end of the downtown area, as well as the neighborhoods around Lower Greenville and Uptown.
The Dallas Police Department (DPD) attributed the spike in auto theft downtown to the concentration of cars in the area, having provided a statement to The Dallas Express:
“Downtown areas tend to see a greater concentration of offenses due to the greater concentration of vehicles in those locations. With the multiple apartment buildings, parking garages, and entertainment districts, in most cases, it is a … crime of opportunity.”
DPD told The Dallas Express that the problem is impacting both commuters and citizens:
“This impacts both commuters and those who live in the city, but as always, the Dallas Police Department is working diligently to not only implement a plan to help combat this issue. We constantly evaluate the plan and look at statistics and trends and make adjustments to help ensure the plan’s effectiveness.”
Aside from the many residents losing their vehicles, the sharp increase in auto theft is also resulting in higher auto insurance premiums.
According to the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT), theft has played a key role in rising insurance costs.
ICT’s public affairs director, Richard Johnson, provided a statement to The Dallas Express explaining the steep cost of auto theft:
“Auto theft has a major impact on the insurance industry and impacts the rates Texas citizens are paying. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau over 1,000,000 vehicles were stolen in the US in 2022 and Texas ranks number two in most vehicles stolen behind California. In Texas alone there were over 105,000 vehicles stolen (this is a 10% increase over 2021). Nationwide, it is estimated that auto thefts cost insurance companies and citizens over $8.9 billion per year.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Council Member Paul Ridley regarding the increase in auto theft in his district but did not receive a response by publication.