Sex trafficking and prostitution continue to blight northwestern Dallas, with significant increases being logged by authorities this year.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, the number of offenses related to the illicit sex trade — prostitution, assisting or promoting prostitution, purchasing prostitution, and human trafficking for commercial sex — has skyrocketed, jumping from 281 incidents to 575 year over year as of November 5, marking a 105% increase.
Of the 575 offenses logged so far this year, 523 were committed within Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6, which comprises Dallas’ northwestern flank, stretching from I-635 down to I-30.
At a glance, the crime overview dashboard’s heat map indicates that the prostitution-related offenses committed in District 6 have been concentrated in the northwestern end of the council district.
Some have attributed the spike in such criminal activity to the Dallas Police Department’s current staffing shortage.
“A lot of it has to do with the manpower or lack of manpower for Dallas police right now,” one area resident who opted not to provide his name reportedly told NBC 5 DFW during an interview over the summer.
DPD currently has fewer than 3,200 officers on the street. A city analysis recommends a jurisdiction the size of Dallas should have roughly 4,000 sworn officers on staff to properly maintain public safety.
Downtown Dallas has been hard hit by the staffing situation, routinely logging higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is reportedly patrolled by a special police unit and private security guards.
Council Member Narvaez could not immediately be 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.
