The murder rate has spiked south of Downtown Dallas even as citywide numbers continue to trend downward.
Much has been made about the Dallas Police Department’s work these past years to lower the violent crime rate. While murders had dropped by 21.3% as of August 4 year over year, there were still 122 people murders clocked, and most of the victims were black or Hispanic males, according to data from the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 leads all other council districts in criminal homicides. A total of 24 murders have occurred there so far this year, a 14.3% uptick from the year prior. The youngest victim was 14 years old, and the oldest was 52 years old. Nearly all the victims were racial minorities, with 16 designated as black and five designated as Hispanic or Latino.
The Dallas Express has reported extensively on the fact that racial minorities are most often the victims of violent crime in Dallas.
As far as Bazaldua’s council district goes, the communities he represents have seen more than just violent crimes. There has also been considerable drug activity — up 73% compared to the year prior — and District 7 currently leads in assault offenses, with 1,762 incidents recorded so far in 2024.
District 7 is located just south of Downtown Dallas, a known hotspot for crime, despite DPD’s Central Division logging the quickest police response times for high-priority calls out of all the divisions. As of July 29, 71.7% of dispatches in the Central Divison had been responded to within the department’s goal framework. Meanwhile, the division primarily responsible for serving District 7 — South Central — met department goals less than 50% of the time on average.
Earlier this year, DPD noted during an evaluation of the effects of its violent crime reduction plan, which is characterized by hotspot policing, that crime in the catchment areas had seen a bump.
Regardless of the exact reason for District 7’s crime increase, it is certain that DPD faces an uphill battle in curbing crime overall. The department’s staffing levels are at roughly 3,000, which is short of the 4,000 officers recommended in a City report to ensure public safety. Dallas residents responding to a City survey recently attested to feeling unsafe at night.
Despite this feedback, the Dallas City Council has not allocated enough taxpayer money for DPD to grow its force. DPD has just $654 million this fiscal year, far less than the spending approved for police in other high-crime jurisdictions, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
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.
