Black and Hispanic individuals have thus far made up the majority of people assaulted this year in the Downtown Dallas area.
According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there have been 330 assault offenses committed in the Dallas Police Department’s Sector 130, which comprises the Central Business District and Victory Park neighborhoods, as of May 10.
Some 162 victims from those incidents were black, 95 were white, 68 were Hispanic or Latino, two were of Asian descent, one was designated “Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander,” and two were logged as “Unknown.”
Together, black and Hispanic victims constituted 69.7% of assault victims in Sector 130.
The median age of black victims, according to City data, is currently 32.5. The youngest victim this year was a 1-year-old, and the oldest was 72.
When it comes to Hispanic victims of assault in Sector 130, the median age is 29. The youngest Hispanic victim was 3 years old, and the oldest was 54.
Irrespective of race, assault offenses in Sector 130 have been on the rise, spiking by 23.1% year over year. There were 268 assaults logged during the same period in 2023.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, crime in Downtown Dallas regularly outpaces Fort Worth’s city center in terms of assault offenses and other types of crime, according to a monthly comparative study published by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association. Relatedly, Fort Worth’s downtown area is patrolled by private security guards and a dedicated neighborhood police unit.
The Dallas Police Department is currently suffering a serious staffing shortage, fielding only about 3,000 officers, roughly 1,000 fewer than the 4,000 recommended by a previous City analysis.
Budgeting only around $654 million for police operations, the Dallas City Council chose to spend less on public safety this fiscal year than other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.