Looking over preliminary crime statistics for November, it appears three high-crime districts and their respective city council members are vying to see what part of Dallas will be the most dangerous in which to own a car.
Districts 2, 6, and 14 each logged more than 100 Motor Vehicle Theft incidents last month, with reigning Crime Boss of the Month Jesse Moreno of District 2 ahead of the pack at 159, followed by District 6’s Omar Narváez at 126, and District 14’s Paul Ridley at 120, according to the City of Dallas Open Data dashboard.
Year to date, the same three districts also pull ahead, with a startling total of 1,705 auto theft reports in District 2, 1,531 in District 6, and 1,369 in District 14.
Alongside assaults, auto thefts are a key driver of the city’s crime rate, and there is no sign that local car thieves will slow down anytime soon.
The number of reported auto thefts in Dallas has been steadily increasing over the last couple of years. Police logged 10,734 incidents in 2020, 11,938 incidents in 2021, and as of Tuesday, December 6, there have been 12,455 incidents so far this year, with the bulk of December left to go.
Granbury resident Bob Locke was unaware of this alarming trend when he ventured into the city limits early last month. Someone stole his 2021 Chevrolet Silverado from a hotel parking lot near Southern Methodist University.
“It’s a gut punch,” said Locke, speaking with WFAA. “There’s a lot of worse things happening out there, but it’s a gut punch.”
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, pickup trucks are especially popular among car thieves, regularly filling out the agency’s monthly Top 10 Stolen Vehicles list.
“It seems like everybody knows somebody now that’s had a vehicle stolen recently in the Dallas area,” Locke said.
The Granbury man also lost his laptop, two child car seats, and some sentimental items, which were inside his truck when it was stolen. If those items had been stolen from the vehicle rather than with it, police would have logged a “Theft From Motor Vehicle” report, a crime category that is also on track to overtake last year’s numbers.
Districts 2 and 14 had the most reported thefts of items from inside vehicles in 2022 by far, clocking 2,131 and 2,305 incidents to date, respectively. District 6 trailed them with the third most, reporting 1,121 incidents.
The Dallas Express asked the Dallas Police Department on Wednesday how many recovered stolen vehicles were sitting in its impound lot but had not heard back by press time.
For guidance on how to keep your vehicle secure, even in Dallas, visit the North Texas Auto Theft Task Force website.
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.