District 1 Council Member Chad West is this month’s Crime Boss after June saw a year-over-year spike in crime.
West has been no stranger to The Dallas Express’ Crime Boss title, having earned the dubious honor four times this year. After flirting with the top these past two months and landing in second and third place, West reclaimed the title due to the Crime Score for his district increasing by 2.22% in June of this year compared to June 2023.
On the bright side, this increase is less alarming than the 30.7% recorded in January. Nevertheless, the same issues seen then — high rates of motor vehicle theft, drug violations, larceny offenses, and assaults — also appear to have fueled District 1’s June Crime Score.
District 1 is located just southwest of Historic Downtown between I-30 and Illinois Avenue. It includes neighborhoods east of Cockrell Hill and west of I-35.
According to data from the city’s crime analytics dashboard, motor vehicle theft was the most prevalent crime in June of this year, with 108 clocked compared to 101 last June.
Next in line were simple assaults, which rose by 8.1% year over year, and vandalism, which grew by 15.6% in the same time period. However, the largest increase was seen in drug violations. A total of 49 were reported in June 2024 compared to 37 in June 2023, for a 32.4% uptick.
The Dallas Express contacted West for comment on his latest Crime Boss designation. In response, he requested DX‘s data but ultimately did not provide a statement by press time.
District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon is the Crime Boss runner-up this month, with a 0.89% increase in her Crime Score in June.
The Dallas Police Department has been focusing on reducing violent crime in Dallas. While this has appeared to coincide with a recent decline in murder rate, property crime continues to be a problem.
A chronic lack of resources is a major reason for this.
DPD fields only around 3,000 officers even though a City report previously recommended closer to 4,000 to adequately respond to residents’ public safety needs. For instance, Downtown Dallas regularly outpaces neighboring Fort Worth’s city center, which is patrolled by a special police unit and private security guards, in terms of criminal activity.
However, in Dallas, City leaders have opted to spend considerably less on law enforcement than their counterparts in other high-crime cities, such as New York City or Chicago. The city council approved a budget of just $654 million for DPD this fiscal year.
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.