Downtown Dallas experiences far more crime than downtown Fort Worth, according to an analysis conducted by a local civic organization.
The Metroplex Civic and Business Association (MCBA) examined crime data from the two sister cities in the metroplex for the month of March, finding that downtown Dallas saw far more criminal activity.
The crime analysis showed that for the nine assault offenses Fort Worth had last month, Dallas had a whopping 72. Downtown Dallas suffered more than three times the number of robberies in March as well.
The most significant disparity was in motor vehicle thefts, as downtown Dallas saw 23 times more of those crimes than downtown Fort Worth. Dallas police reported 70 instances of the crime during the month of March, while Fort Worth law enforcement documented only three.
Larceny and theft offenses saw similar multiples, with Dallas suffering 17 times more than Fort Worth — totaling 168 instances in the Big D compared to only 10 in Cowtown.
Other notable differences were revealed in the analysis. Downtown Dallas had 48 reported cases of property damage and 30 drug violations. Fort Worth, on the other hand, did not document any instances of either type of criminal activity.
Of all types of crime, burglary/breaking and entering were the most equal between the two cities, with 14 occurring in downtown Dallas compared to 13 in downtown Fort Worth during March.
MCBA notes that “given a lack of granularity in the Fort Worth crime data, crimes of a similar nature in Dallas have been summed into the above crime categories for a more accurate comparison.”
Dallas has struggled in 2023 to stop a rise in violent crime during the previous two years, and even the difference in size between the two downtowns is not of a scale that accounts for the tremendous differences above.
Louis Darrouzet, the CEO of the MCBA, explained to The Dallas Express how Dallas was a city that “sort of defunded the police,” reducing overtime pay and not keeping hiring numbers up during a period of unrest between 2019 and 2020.
“You see a 45% increase in retirements [around then]. At the same time, you have a district attorney that is not prosecuting a lot of the arrests that are made. … We don’t want our jails filled just to do it, but as a police officer, if you bring someone in and they’re getting released before you even finish your paperwork, what are you doing?” Darrouzet said.
“We forget that police are just citizens too. If we make it too hard to be a police officer, people will just stop being police officers. No one will do it if we don’t pay enough or it’s too difficult to do. If they feel unsupported, they’ll just choose another career,” he said.
Darrouzet went on to explain how he believes a vicious cycle of crime and declining economic opportunity is compounding the problem, noting that businesses and residents are leaving Dallas for the safer suburbs.
“Dallas proper is having to pay companies [with tax incentives] to come move here. It’s because there’s a greater risk because [the City] doesn’t have crime under control,” Darrouzet said.
He noted that surrounding cities do not offer certain services to their homeless and vagrant populations, exacerbating the problems in Dallas.
“They all go to Downtown Dallas because that’s where they can get their needs met. It’s kind of like ‘if you build it, they will come,” he said.
Reflecting on the problems Dallas suffers from, Darrouzet added:
“It’s kind of two-fold in my mind. We need to have enough officers. We need to pay them enough so that they’ll stay. And then on the other end, [the City Council] needs to be doing everything they can to expedite companies moving to Dallas and creating jobs and opportunities because those two things will eventually meet in the middle … Dallas does a lot of things great, but I think there’s an opportunity here for them to do things better.”
Darrouzet also pointed to Dallas’ related crisis of homelessness and vagrancy.
“In addition to Crime, we hear constant complaints about the Homelessness & Vagrancy problems from many of our member companies,” he told The Dallas Express. “The MCBA has been working with our membership to determine better models to support this segment of our community.”
He pointed to a solution that’s heavily favored by Dallas residents, as polling by The Dallas Express indicates.
“A model like San Antonio’s Haven For Hope, would be extremely helpful in Dallas,” argued Darrouzet. “The City of San Antonio required all non-profits and service providers that supported this segment of the community to operate out of a singular 22-acre location near downtown. They have 180+ services onsite including women’s dorms, men’s dorms, family dorms, pet kennels, post office, eye care, dental care, medical care, in-patient mental health, and addiction support. Haven for Hope is a secure location, and 13 school districts pick up and drop off the children daily. This model has proven to be the most successful program in the Country in improving this segment of the community’s lives.”
Darrouzet noted the San Antonio city government’s strong involvement in that effort.
“However, to implement this solution, the City leaders had to take a strong stance against letting people loiter or camp in the streets,” he said. “The city gives them 3 options. 1) They can Leave San Antonio. 2) They can go to Haven for Hope. 3) They can go to Jail. Had they not set these hard rules, the San Antonio riverwalk would not be what it is today.”
MCBA describes itself as “a nonpartisan, non-profit business organization with a mission to increase charitable and civic engagement among companies and their employees by connecting local businesses with great charities.”
The organization exists to “help DFW businesses educate, empower, and mobilize their employee base to step up and make a difference in their communities, ensuring that the region continues to thrive.”
Darrouzet also spoke at length about the charitable activities undertaken by MCBA Member Companies and the untapped opportunity the organization can play. He noted the potential multiplier effect when charitable events or drives undertaken by one Member Company are joined by employees of others, and Members can share their experiences across so many watercoolers and office break rooms.
Founded in 2021, the MCBA recently celebrated attaining 100 member companies, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Darrouzet told The Dallas Express, “I wouldn’t be surprised if next year we hit 250 companies. We’d love to get to a place where we’ve got a large group of individuals that are educating their employees and getting involved.”