Council Member Chad West comes in second in this month’s Crime Boss after District 1 saw an uptick in crime in May.
West, who has been awarded the dubious honor of Crime Boss three times this year, found himself in second place. Council Member Zarin Gracey’s District 3 logged a surge in Crime Score year over year for the month of May, earning him the title of Crime Boss. West’s Crime Score saw a 0.77% increase, putting him in second.
While Gracey holds the title of Crime Boss in June, West’s steady appearance as a contender is largely due to persistently high rates of motor vehicle thefts, larcenies, assault offenses, and drug crimes in his council district, located just southwest of downtown.
According to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard, crime rose in District 1 by 0.9% in May compared to May 2023. Vehicle-related crimes were most prevalent, with 127 vehicles stolen and 71 car break-ins reported. While just one less motor vehicle theft occurred between May 2023 and May 2024, car break-ins spiked this year by 22.4%.
There was also an increase in simple assaults, with 89 recorded in May 2024 for a 20.3% rise. Notably, 67 crimes were categorized as “family violence crimes” involving relatives or those living in the same home.
Other crime categories on the rise in District 1 in May include larceny (up 51.9%), drugs (up 42.9%), and aggravated assault (up 20%).
Although District 1 trails behind some other council districts with higher volumes of crimes reported, such as Districts 2 and 14, which comprise the crime hotspot of Downtown Dallas, it has been putting up concerning increases at a time when the Dallas Police Department has finally seen some success in moving the dial on violent crime.
Southwestern Dallas, which includes District 1 and Crime Boss Gracey’s District 3, has logged some of the longest DPD response rates this year.
Currently, just 42.1% of the 2,640 calls for service have been met with a prompt response. The targeted response time depends on the type of call received; the response time goal for Priority 1 calls is within 8 minutes, Priority 2 calls within 12 minutes, Priority 3 calls within 30 minutes, and Priority 4 calls within 60 minutes.
According to City data, the average response time for police in Southwestern Dallas was 11.6 minutes for Priority 1 calls, 70.5 minutes for Priority 2 calls, 256.8 minutes for Priority 3 calls, and 263.4 minutes for Priority 4 calls.
The significant shortage of officers within DPD helps explain these delays. The department fields just 3,000 officers despite a City report calling for closer to 4,000. However, City leaders opted to budget DPD just $654 million this fiscal year, significantly less than the sums spent on law enforcement in other high-crime cities across the country.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information about the City, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible. According to data from the FBI’s UCR database, Dallas has more crime per capita than hotspots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.
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.