DALLAS — Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said the crime plan she presented to councilmembers in January has resulted in an overall reduction in crime, but violence continues to plague certain neighborhoods.
Hall said Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and county constables will be brought in to help DPD “fill the gaps” in those neighborhoods this summer.
She said the department is using data to zero in on apartment complexes where aggravated assaults, stabbings and shootings are spiking.
Many of those are located in city council district 4, represented by Carolyn King Arnold.
“There are areas within district 4 that spike as it relates to aggravated assault, homicides, robberies,” Hall said. “Because we don’t reveal our hand…we will not allow the criminals to know exactly where we’re going to be. But, there are particular areas within district 4 where we’ll be.”
On Thursday, Arnold unveiled “Dallas 365 Safe,” a new crime plan she said was developed with input from Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, and Director of the DPS Northern Region Hank Sibley, as well as neighborhood association leaders and pastors.
“This plan is community driven,” she said. “These leaders are committed to a change – a change for the better.”
Dallas ended 2019 with more than 200 murders. After a particularly violent May – more than 40 homicides were recorded – Gov. Greg Abbott sent troopers to provide back up to a short-staffed DPD.
During the troopers’ three-month deployment, there were complaints that officers focused on small transgressions instead of big problems.
Thousands of people were pulled over for things like broken taillights or running stop signs.
Sibley said this year will look different.
“It will be more surgical,” he said. “We’re going to be flexible. We’re going to be mobile. It will not be a flood or over-saturation.
“This will be a very intelligence-driven, select, targeted approach to suppressing crime in areas that need suppression.”
Sibley and Arnold said this crime suppression plan had been drawn up earlier in the year, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed back the rollout.
While Arnold said the plan officially launched Thursday, Sibley said troopers will get to work in targeted areas on specific days and times at DPD’s direction.