Over half of all black murder victims in Dallas this year were killed in three City Council districts.
As of September 21, 53.9% of the 180 murder victims logged this year by the Dallas Police Department were black, with 97 in total dying due to criminal homicide, according to statistics from the City of Dallas victim demographics dashboard.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 has seen more black murder victims than any other council district, logging 20 victims. District 8, represented by Council Member Tennell Atkins, saw the second most with 18. Council Member Carolyn King Arnold’s District 4 came in behind District 8, with 15 black murder victims recorded.
No other council district has seen more than eight murders of black individuals this year.
Districts 4, 7, and 8 are all at least in part situated within DPD’s South Central Patrol Division, which has been enduring lengthy police response times in recent months, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
South Central has recorded 30 black murder victims in 2023, according to the dashboard.
Of all the black murder victims citywide in 2023, 83 were male, and 14 were female. The oldest victim was a 65-year-old, and the youngest was 7-year-old Kyrie Barnes, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
DPD has been struggling to keep murders down amid an ongoing staffing shortage. The department currently has fewer than 3,200 officers on staff. A City report previously advised that Dallas needs about 4,000 officers to adequately maintain public safety.
Downtown Dallas has been especially affected by the officer shortage, logging higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is reportedly patrolled by a dedicated neighborhood police unit working alongside private security officers.
In a previous interview with The Dallas Express, Antong Lucky, president of the non-profit organization Urban Specialists, claimed that despite high-profile national narratives dwelling on officer misconduct against people of color, Dallas minority communities actually want officers to get a handle on crime.
“[W]e want to feel safe in our communities. We don’t want to be profiled. We don’t want to be harassed, but we want police,” Lucky said.
