More weapons law violations were committed in City Council Member Tennell Atkins’ District 8 in March than in any other city council district.
District 8 constitutes Dallas’ southernmost flank, stretching roughly from the intersection of Interstate 20 and Texas Highway 67 to the Kleberg area.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, District 8 has been the deadliest part of town this year, logging the most murders year to date. That trend bore out in March as well. Seven murders were reported that month by the Dallas Police Department (DPD), more than double what occurred in March of 2022, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
Looking deeper into the March data indicates some correlation with other crime categories.
Weapons law violations, for instance, jumped by 35.7% year over year, with 38 incidents reported, 10 more than last year.
Such offenses occur under a variety of circumstances, such as when an individual “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm, location-restricted knife, club, or prohibited weapon” to certain locations, like a school or a secured area at an airport.
Felons or people on probation can also find themselves in violation by possessing a firearm.
Additionally, there was a significant uptick in drug offenses in District 8 that month. City data indicates that reported incidents increased by 13.1% year over year.
Incident reports in several other categories also ticked up in March. Eight more reports of shoplifting that month represented a spike of 160% compared to the year before. Further, three additional robberies made for a 21% increase, and simple assaults jumped by nine for an increase of 8%, according to City data.
A request for comment was sent to Council Member Atkins’ office, but no response was received by press time.
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.