Confidence scams are up in Dallas this year, and one City Council district is seeing considerably more than any other.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there have been 1,647 reports of such fraud offenses, marking a 6.7% bump over the 1,544 incidents logged during the same period last year.
Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6 clocked the most incidents so far, logging 252 as of December 3, several more than the 243 recorded in 2022 year to date.
The uptick in scams comes at a time when the Dallas Police Department is seemingly finding itself ill-equipped to get crime under control in the city. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, an ongoing officer shortage is hamstringing the department’s ability to promptly respond to reports of criminal activity.
Only around 3,000 officers currently serve Dallas, however, a City analysis advises that some 4,000 are necessary in order for DPD to properly maintain public safety and bring police response times down.
Coming in behind District 6 for most confidence scams reported this year was District 2, which is represented by Council Member Jesse Moreno. Some 187 offenses were documented in his council district. Next came Council Member Paul Ridley’s District 14 with 159 incidents, followed by Council Member Carolyn King Arnold’s District 4 with 124.
Every other council district had 100 or fewer offenses logged in 2023.
Council Member Narvaez’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.
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.