Crime in North Dallas spiked in December 2022, with Cara Mendelsohn’s District 12 coming in just behind Crime Boss of the Month Jaynie Schultz’s District 11.
According to the downloadable data set available on the City of Dallas Open Data’s website, which The Dallas Express sourced from on January 9, District 12’s Crime Score increased by 13.46% last month, making it the only district in which Schultz ended 2022 with a double-digit hike.
Mendelsohn oversees Dallas’s northernmost city council district, bordering District 11 and stopping south of Hebron and Plano along the President George Bush Turnpike.
The two-term councilwoman currently chairs the committee on Government Performance & Financial Management and sits on the Transportation & Infrastructure, Public Safety, and Housing & Homelessness Solutions committees.
Mendelsohn’s Crime Score was in large part driven by the 227 reported property crimes that took place in her district last month, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
The region saw a 25% increase in car burglaries, a 37% increase in incidents of vandalism and destruction of property, a 48% increase in motor vehicle thefts, and a 53% increase in residential and commercial burglaries over December 2021.
District 12 also saw steep month-over-month spikes in most categories of both violent and non-violent crimes, including assault offenses, car burglaries, motor vehicle thefts, drug offenses, robberies, and vandalism.
It is unclear why reported crimes have been spiking in North Dallas, but a spate of recent homicides in the area has put Districts 11 and 12 on the hook for a chunk of the city’s murder rate in 2023.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, a triple murder at an apartment complex rocked Crime Boss Schultz’s district on January 6, followed by a suspected robbery-turned-homicide in Mendelsohn’s District 12 less than a week later.
If current trends continue, North Dallas could overtake other parts of Dallas that are more well-known for their high violent crime rates.
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.