Women and girls of color continue to comprise the majority of sex trafficking victims in Dallas amid a surge of such crimes in the city.
According to the City of Dallas victim demographics dashboard, there have been 44 offenses recorded by the Dallas Police Department this year as of November 3, marking an increase of 33% over the number logged during the same period in 2022.
Some 95.5% of victims have been female, ranging in age from 11 to 50 years old. The median victim age is currently 17. Of the female victims, 21 were black, 13 were white, seven were Hispanic or Latina, and one was designated “unknown.”
Of the 44 sex trafficking offenses clocked, the overwhelming majority were committed within Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6 in northwestern Dallas. Twenty-nine offenses were logged in the district. Seven were counted in Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2, and two were recorded in Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7. No other council district had more than one offense clocked, according to the dashboard.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, District 6 has been ground zero for prostitution-related criminal offenses, typically accounting for the majority of such crimes in the city at any given point in time.
Roughly 58.6% of sex trafficking victims in District 6 have been black this year. White victims made up 31% of the total, and Hispanic or Latino victims comprised 10.3%. Sex trafficking increased by 123% year over year in Narvaez’s district, per the dashboard data.
A report by NBC 5 DFW over the summer put a spotlight on the gravity of the problem in northwestern Dallas. Residents had been voicing their concerns over a sharp spike in prostitution-related activity in the area since a county appeals court judge ruled a municipal anti-prostitution ordinance unconstitutional.
“A lot of it has to do with the manpower or lack of manpower for Dallas police right now,” said one area resident who opted not to provide his name to NBC 5.
DPD fields fewer than 3,200 officers at present. A City report recommends a municipality the size of Dallas should have about 4,000 sworn officers to properly maintain public safety.
Downtown Dallas has been especially affected by the staffing situation, regularly logging much higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is reportedly patrolled by a special police unit and private security guards.