Assault offenses were not very evenly distributed across the 14 Dallas City Council districts last month, with several jurisdictions logging much higher rates than the rest.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 clocked the most assaults, which include aggravated assault, simple assault, and cases of intimidation. Some 208 offenses were reported in December 2023.
District 7 is mostly situated south of I-30, spanning much of South Dallas (including Fair Park). Its eastern flank ends at the boundary between Dallas and Mesquite before I-635.
Three other council districts were not far behind, with incidents numbering in the 190s. Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6 — located in northwestern Dallas — logged 193 offenses last month. Districts 4 and 8, represented by Council Members Carolyn King Arnold and Tennell Atkins, respectively, each saw 191 assaults recorded.
Alternatively, District 13, which Council Member Gay Donnell Willis represents, logged the fewest assault offenses last month at 68, followed by Council Member Cara Mendelsohn’s District 12 with 87.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the vast majority of assault victims in Dallas were black or Hispanic last year. In District 7, some 2,723 black and Hispanic people were assaulted during the period.
Budgeting only $654 million for the Dallas Police Department this year, City officials are set to spend much less taxpayer money on public safety than other high-crime cities, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The City’s budget for this fiscal year was adopted despite DPD’s longstanding officer shortage.
The department currently has only around 3,000 officers in the field even though a City report advises that approximately 4,000 are necessary to properly maintain public safety. Downtown Dallas, which borders Districts 6 and 7, has been affected by the shortage, regularly logging more criminal activity than Fort Worth’s downtown area. A dedicated police unit and private security guards patrol the latter.
A request for comment was sent to Council Member Bazaldua regarding the assaults in his district, 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.