The City of Dallas recently experienced a spike in violent crimes. In the month of March, the murder rate went up 47.06%, robberies went up 19.67% and aggravated assaults went up 47.67%. This was understandably alarming to the citizens of Dallas and to our department.  In response to this increase in crime, Chief David O. Brown created the Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF).

The VCTF is composed of 170 officers whose main objective is to be proactive in the efforts of decreasing crime in our city. The brave men and women that make up this task force have adjusted their schedules to better combat these crimes during late night hours.  They come from different units such as Metro, SWAT, Narcotics, K9, and Gang. They are saturating the Target Area Action Grids, gathering information, making traffic stops and taking delinquents off the streets.

Since the VCTF was formed on March 2, 2016, they have answered 2609 calls, made 2510 traffic stops, arrested 314 people, recovered 30 stolen vehicles, executed 31 search warrants, and taken 61 guns off the streets, making these neighborhoods safer. The crime rate in the Northeast Division had increased by 7.9% in the month of March. Just a month after the Violent Crime Task Force went to this area, the crime rate has already decreased by 4.90%. The Southeast Division had an increase of 11.20% and saw a decrease of 2% after the VCTF hit the streets.  When the VCTF leaves one area to address another neighborhood, they leave behind officers from that division to continue the mission.

 If you want to see what kind of action they are getting into every night, you can follow them on Twitter @DallasPDVCTF. Just remember, they are not tweeting all actions they take.