A veteran Dallas police officer assigned to the downtown beat was placed on administrative leave after getting arrested on family violence charges over the weekend.
Sgt. Ruben Lozano, 42, who was hired by the Dallas Police Department in 2009, was taken into custody in Irving over an incident that allegedly occurred on September 26.
According to WFAA, an affidavit states that Lozano’s wife claimed the couple “had a verbal argument regarding his infidelity” that escalated into a physical altercation. She allegedly sustained multiple injuries to her thigh, back, and arms, stating in a police report that Lozano would not allow her to leave the phone. He purportedly grabbed her multiple times to pull her back inside their home.
DPD said in a blog post that Lozano was not on duty at the time of the offense and was put on administrative leave “pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs administrative investigation.”
Lozano was assigned to the Central Business District, which constitutes historic Downtown Dallas.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Downtown Dallas has been awash with crime, homelessness, and vagrancy in recent years, with the neighborhood logging far more crime than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is reportedly patrolled by private security guards and a special police unit.
DPD has been experiencing a significant staffing shortage, maintaining fewer than 3,200 officers at present. A City analysis claims a municipality the size of Dallas needs roughly 4,000 sworn law enforcement personnel, about three for every 1,000 residents.
Lozano surrendered himself to the Irving Police Department over the weekend and was booked at Dallas County jail on family violence and unlawful restraint charges, according to The Dallas Morning News. He does not currently appear in the jail’s online records.
Crime in Downtown Dallas has been on the rise this year, with DPD logging a year-over-year increase of 7% in the city center. According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there have been 3,976 criminal offenses in DPD Sector 130 this year as of November 6. There were 3,715 recorded in the same period in 2022.
Sector 130 comprises the historic Downtown and much of neighboring Victory Park. The jurisdiction is roughly split between Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2 and Council Member Paul Ridley’s District 14.
