Dallas Police Meet With Residents Over Crime Concerns Following October Tornado

It’s been more than three months since a tornado ripped through North Dallas, damaging more than 900 residential and commercial structures.

At a meeting with residents Saturday, Dallas police discussed ongoing efforts to combat crime and burglary in areas affected by the tornado as people rebuild their homes which were damaged or destroyed.

“A lot of them, the homes are not secure,” Dallas police Maj. Sharise Hadnot said. “So, there’s either plywood, or maybe some type of tarp, or the windows are blown out. So, there’s ways for people to actually access their property.”

Hadnot said the North Central Division specifically has tracked at least 31 offenses since the Oct. 20 storm.

“Most of those are burglary-related where people have come in and taken a barbecue grill out of the backyard, or they’ve come in and the garage door is not closed or is compromised," Hadnot said. "They’ve come in and taken bicycles out."

Richard Wasserman and his wife have lived in an apartment since restoration started on their home. The home was broken was into in November.

“They broke in one of the back doors and stole about $20,000 worth of cameras, a coin collection, things like that,” Wasserman said. “The burglars destroyed the connection between our house and the power lines, and inactivated the alarm system. We were notified and called the neighborhood watch but by the time people got there, burglars were gone.”

Efforts to combat crime in neighborhoods hit hardest by the storm are ongoing, Hadnot said.

Immediately after the storm, she said multiple agencies assisted in patrolling the division. They included the Texas Department of Public Safety, officers from other divisions and city marshals.

Once heavy debris was cleared, stationary posts were scaled back.

“But we did not leave,” she said, referring to her division. “Now, obviously the state troopers can’t stay there for the next year, so we have to strategically align our resources.”

That means upping manpower to the best of their ability in areas that require it, according to Hadnot. Recently, she said they started to see “an uptick” in calls of suspicious activity, such further as damages to homes and missing items.

In response, some areas now have up to three officers patrolling, plus city marshals.  

Saturday’s meeting with residents included discussion on how they could be part of the solution. Targeted patrolling, according to Ofc. Mark Lutz, would require police officers to know what areas need attention.

It's an area residents can help by reporting what they see.

“We can use email, we can use Nextdoor, we can use these different social media efforts to do this. We just have to have to be very communicative, we have to be speaking to one another,” Lutz told those in attendance.

Residents like Wasserman said they recognized the challenge police were up against.

“It’s impossible to put a policeman in front of every house and unfortunately, there are more bad guys than good guys,” he said. “I’m not particularly frustrated. I mean, I’m upset at having been burglarized, but police are doing a good job with what they can.”

The city of Dallas reports 905 residential and commercial buildings sustained damage, with 106 destroyed.