If it seems like crime has gone up recently, that’s because some of it has — according to the city’s latest weekly crime report. The number of murders has jumped by 28 percent citywide compared to this time last year, and 40 percent were drug-or gang-related. Other violent offenses also rose by about 4 percent.
Other crime continues to decrease, overall. Sexual assault has gone down by 4 percent, and domestic violence by 2 percent.
Chief David Brown told the Dallas Morning News that, despite the mid-summer up-tick, our murder rate is equivalent to what it was in 1958 — when our population was half of what it is now. He said most of the violent crime isn’t random, and it’s often criminals against criminals. Incidents like the tragic slaying of an elderly White Rock-area woman back in the spring are not the trend.
To hone in on our council districts, there are slightly different changes, which you can see in the snapshots below.
In District 2, which includes Old East Dallas and Deep Ellum areas, there were six more murders this year, and aggravated assault went up 33 percent.
In the White Rock area (District 9), while murders went down, robberies against individuals rose by almost 50 percent. Crimes involving guns increased by about 32 percent.
In District 14, murders decreased a bit, but sexual assaults have risen by almost 86 percent (there 13 incidents compared to 7 last year). Business burglaries also saw an almost 60 percent increase.
