The City of Dallas Police Department put its Violent Crime Reduction Plan into action in May 2021, and a year later claimed that overall “violent street crime” — murder, robbery, and non-family aggravated assault — was down 12% citywide.
Yet, according to data obtained by The Dallas Express, two of the three types of violent crime listed above saw increases in the City of Dallas when comparing August this summer to August in 2021, and the lone reduction — Homicide Offenses – dipped by just two in the timeframe.
Overall, Dallas and its 14 districts saw a small year-over-year reduction in crime for August, as total crime reports dropped by 278 (from 9,060 to 8,782).
The crime drop would likely have been more significant if the region could slow Motor Vehicle Theft — a crime that has plagued Dallas all year. But, as it has for the last several months, Motor Vehicle Thefts climbed from 2,183 in August 2021 to 2,274 in August 2022, an increase of 91.
Together, the categories of robbery, and assault, rose by nearly 4%.
Assault Offenses increased by 12 — up from 733 to 745 — and in District 7, assaults broke into the triple digits, hitting 100 for the month of August, up from 86. District 7 is led by Councilman Adam Bazaldua, September’s Crime Boss of the Month (CBOM) runner-up for the second consecutive month.
Robberies also increased year-over-year in August, jumping up 25 from 202 to 227. District 13 – led by CBOM Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis – saw robberies shoot up by 62.5% in August, from 8 last year to 13 in 2022. Robberies helped push District 13’s Crime Score up by 23.11% in August.
The Dallas Express reached out to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to get his latest opinion on how effective the Violent Crime Reduction Plan has been. At the time of press, no comments had been submitted.
The remaining crimes which saw increases in Dallas are:
- Drug/Narcotics Violations: up 48, from 544 to 592.
- Trespass of Real Property: up 29, from 79 to 108.
- Animal Offenses: up 25, from 16 to 41.
- Stolen Property Offenses: up 23, from 22 to 45.
- Nonviolent Family Offenses: up 7, from 35 to 42.
- Extortion/Blackmail: up one, from zero to one.
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.