Shoplifting shot up in August year over year, with the City logging a 54% increase amid the ongoing police shortage at the Dallas Police Department.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there were 231 reports made concerning shoplifting in the city. Last August, only 150 incidents were recorded.
Council Member Gay Donnell Willis’ District 13 saw the most shoplifting offenses, with 50 reports made in the northern Dallas jurisdiction, a 38.9% jump from the number of incidents logged in August 2022.
While District 13 had the most shoplifting offenses, it did not have the sharpest year-over-year spike in August. Council Member Chad West’s District 1 clocked a 725% increase, spiking from just four incidents last year to 33. District 1 is located just southwest of Downtown Dallas, which has been dealing with its own rise in assaults and motor vehicle thefts.
Downtown Dallas routinely outpaces nearby Fort Worth’s downtown area in terms of crime rates. A special police unit and private security guards help patrol the latter.
The council district with the third most shoplifting offenses in August was Council Member Jaynie Schultz’s District 11, which is located in northern Dallas to the east of District 13. Like District 1, Schultz’s council district saw a drastic increase, with offenses leaping by 200% year over year from 10 incidents to 30.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot experimented with a non-prosecution policy for thefts valued at between $100 and $750. He later reversed course and ended the policy after receiving criticism for allegedly being soft on crime.
It is currently unclear what is prompting such steep increases in shoplifting, but the offenses had ballooned by 56.5% citywide as of October 3, according to a report by DPD. Some 1,950 offenses have been logged so far this year compared to the 1,246 clocked in the same period last year.
One factor contributing to the increase could be DPD’s staffing shortage. The department has had a force of fewer than 3,200 officers over the last couple of years, while a City analysis previously recommended that DPD needed upwards of 4,000 sworn personnel to properly maintain public safety.
The offices of Council Members Schultz, West, and Willis 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.