Criminal offenses classified as crimes against society are up by 7.5% in Dallas due to significant increases in reports related to prostitution, gambling, and illegal drugs.
According to a report published by the Dallas Police Department, there has been a 7.1% citywide spike in drug crimes, a 16.3% jump in gambling offenses, and a 179.1% hike in prostitution-related violations as of August 27.
The increase in crimes against society has been especially pronounced in DPD’s Central Division, which includes Downtown Dallas. Such offenses increased by 20.9% year over year. Drug crimes increased by more than 28%, with DPD logging 1,128 reported incidents.
Downtown Dallas has been suffering from high crime rates and the effects of the City’s homelessness and vagrancy crisis. Local activist Adekoye Adams of Dallas Justice Now previously spoke with The Dallas Express about the connection between homelessness and crime.
“They feed off of each other. … Letting them go on with their lives introduces lawlessness based on this fiction of the crimes being ‘victimless,’ i.e., ‘they aren’t hurting anyone,’ as they take refuge under highways and parks that lead to vagrancy with toxic potential,” Adams said. “I don’t think we should be forced to witness people succumbing to alcohol, crack, or opioid addiction.”
However, Adams said he did not feel non-violent drug addicts should be jailed with violent felons, noting that local authorities should put them in “drug and alcohol abuse centers for the common good.”
Dallas’ greater downtown area is largely contained within City Council Districts 2 and 14, represented by Council Members Jesse Moreno and Paul Ridley, respectively.
According to the City of Dallas’ crime overview dashboard, District 2 saw a 21.7% increase in drug-related offenses in 2023. About 935 were logged in the district as of August 27. Only 768 were reported through that date last year. In District 14, just over 400 offenses were reported this year, a 20% bump over the 335 through the same period in 2022.
DPD has been short-staffed for years. It presently maintains a force of about 3,100 officers. A City report advises that a jurisdiction the size of Dallas should have about three officers staffed for every 1,000 residents, putting an ideal staffing level at roughly 4,000 officers.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Downtown Dallas’ crime rates are considerably higher than nearby Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter has a dedicated neighborhood police unit working alongside private security officers.
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 prior to the ransomware hurdles can check out our methodology page here.