Drug crime is up across Dallas, with one council district showing an over 80% uptick compared to last year.
According to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard, 3,929 drug offenses had been logged across Dallas as of May 28. This works out to roughly 26 drug busts every day in the city so far this year.
Notably, drug offenses are among the most common categories of crime reported in all council districts. This type of crime figured within the top five most frequently reported offenses in districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.
Drug crime is the third most prevalent crime in District 5, which is represented by The Dallas Express‘ Crime Boss for May, Council Member Jaime Resendez. In April, the month for which Resendez saw a higher Crime Score than his counterparts, District 5 saw 36 drug busts — the same number logged in April 2023. A deep dive into available police data shows that marijuana constituted the majority of these offenses, followed by methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl.
Overall, so far this year, District 5 has logged a total of 222 drug offenses, a 33.7% increase year over year.
However, the area seeing an astronomical rise in drug offenses this year is Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7. So far, the council district has seen an 81.9% spike in drug offenses — 602 as of May 28 compared to 331 over the same period in 2023.
Nevertheless, District 7 comes in second in drug crime, with Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6 leading with 610 reported offenses so far this year. This represents a slight uptick of 3.7% from the year prior.
Although DPD has managed to move the dial on crime in certain categories, Police Chief Eddie Garcia still sees it as no time to let up, as covered previously in The Dallas Express.
With City leaders budgeting the department just $654 million this fiscal year, DPD disposes of far less taxpayer money than the law enforcement agencies of other high-crime jurisdictions, including Los Angeles or New York.
Meanwhile, DPD is significantly understaffed, having roughly 3,000 uniformed officers despite a City report previously calling for closer to 4,000.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information about the City, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible. According to data from the FBI’s UCR database, Dallas has more crime per capita than hotspots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.
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.