Dallas saw a more than a 10% decrease in violent crime in 2023, according to numbers released Thursday afternoon by the Dallas Police Department. And while aggravated assaults and robberies are down across the city, more people were victims of murder and property crime in 2023 than in 2022. NBC 5’s Alicia Barrera is in Dallas where she spoke to Chief Eddie Garcia about the collective work happening to deter crime.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said he is proud of the work accomplished by the men and women in the department.
"It's astonishing to me the work that they do with what we have," Garcia said.
Dallas has once again seen a downward trend in violent crime. In 2023, overall violent street crime was down 13.79% from 2022.
"That equates to over 1,500 less victims of violent crime that we've had in the city," Garcia said. "A lot of that is attributed to aggravated assault, which dropped 18%, which is roughly another 1,300 less victims of aggravated assault."
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Robberies in 2023 also went down 8% citywide from 2022.
"[It's] the least amount of incidents of violent crime incidents we've had in five years," Garcia said. "Gun crime has gone down over 20% as well. And those are the good things."
However, murders spiked to 14.95% in 2023.
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"As we delve into the murder, you know, we look at nearly over 70% of murder victims are involved in some sort of criminal activity or high-risk behavior," Garcia said. "And so, we need to work on that. We need to obviously work with our community to get that message out that that is not the life we want. Over two-thirds of our murders occurred either inside a residence or at an apartment complex, which can be very challenging as well."
Property crime throughout the city also increased, according to Garcia.
"Property crime ticked up just a little bit, probably about, you know, in the 1% or 2% area," Garcia said. "And mostly because of stolen vehicles, which is not just a Dallas, it's a national epidemic with stolen vehicles. And shoplifting actually went up as well quite a bit."
Garcia said stolen vehicles were a primary reason for launching the online reporting system earlier this year.
"We've been successful thus far," Garcia said.
For the fiscal year 2024, Garcia said the focus is to take the criminal element off the street.
"We need to make sure that we get the message out to our community, give individuals a pathway to a better life, which we're starting to do with our focused deterrence program," Garcia said. "And at the same time, ensure the officers are taking part in proactive activity to take that criminal element off the street before it turns deadly."
Proactive activity includes creating and reinforcing community alliances with leaders and organizations such as the nonprofit Project Unity.
"Project Unity is an organization focused on bridging community divides, that being race relations to, you know, police-community issues," Pastor Richie Butler said.
Butler is the founder of Project Unity and Senior Pastor of St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church.
"We take on some of our community's most daunting, challenging issues and work in collaboration with others to bring about solutions to those problems."
Butler credits Garcia and the Dallas Police Department for a continued effort to build trust within communities.
"Chief Eddie Garcia has done more than offer an olive branch. He has actually brought a whole tree to the table and is genuinely committed to working with the community," Butler said. "We have done community walks with the chief in high crime areas to make sure that the community knows law enforcement, not in a time of crisis, but in a moment of calm. He and I have worked to form an advisory committee made up of some community leaders."
The committee, according to Butler, discusses the issues between communities of color and law enforcement.
"I think we all are aware, you know, that crime remains an issue, particularly in communities of color and communities that are socioeconomically disadvantaged," Butler said. "And I think part of the challenge around crime, you don't arrest your way out of this. It really is more comprehensive around programming, around economic development programs."
However, DPD along with other cities across the nation, continue to face staff shortages.
"Certainly, we're hundreds of officers short in this police department in the city. But it's one of the things that city leadership completely understands. They're extremely supportive of us growing the department," Garcia said.
According to DPD, there are 3,031 sworn employees. Their budget for the fiscal year 2024 is 214 additional employees.
"We need to find ways to retain individuals in the department, recruit more individuals to our department," Garcia said. "We know that the way the pathway to better serve our residents is to grow as a department."
Garcia said changing violent crime behavior will also include providing resources to the community that include education, jobs and assisting with social issues.
