Robberies disproportionately affected northwestern Dallas last month, with City data indicating a relatively significant disparity in terms of council districts.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, some 26 robberies were committed in December within Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6, which comprises Dallas’ northwestern flank and is situated roughly between I-635 and I-30. Year over year, robberies increased by 36.8% in the district, jumping from 19 incidents in December 2022.
The council district with the second-highest number of reported robberies was Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7, which clocked 18, followed by Council Member Jaime Resendez’s District 5 at 17.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, District 6 has been the center of Dallas’ illicit commercial sex trade and sees a fair amount of violent crimes committed, including murders, with black and Hispanic individuals overrepresented when it comes to victims.
Budgeting only $654 million for the Dallas Police Department this year, City officials plan on spending 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 passed despite DPD suffering a substantial shortage of police officers.
The department currently has only around 3,000 officers on staff even though a City report recommends that roughly 4,000 are necessary to properly maintain public safety and reduce police response times. Downtown Dallas, which borders District 6, has been affected by the shortage, routinely logging more criminal activity than Fort Worth’s downtown area. A dedicated police unit and private security guards patrol the latter.
Over the course of 2023, more robberies were documented in District 6 than any other council district in Dallas, with 299 on the books. District 7 was not far behind, though, logging 292 incidents.
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.