The Dallas Police Department partnered with UTSA Criminology & Criminal Justice professors Michael Smith and Rob Tillyer and developed the Dallas Violent Crime Reduction Plan in May 2021.
The Plan is comprised of evidence-based short, mid, and long-term strategies designed to work together to reduce violent crime in the City’s most violence-prone areas, thereby reducing aggregate levels of violent street crime City-wide.
Previous data showed that violent crime in Dallas has been on the rise, particularly in the past three years. Violent crime increased steadily with a 14% increase from 2018 to 2019 and an additional 5% increase in 2020 compared to 2019.
The Dallas Police Department values its partnership with UTSA Criminology & Criminal Justice professors Michael Smith and Rob Tillyer. In addition to the hard work of the men and women of this department, Doctors Smith and Tillyer’s programmatic and analytic support have proven to be an invaluable resource that is reflected in last year’s overall crime success,” said Chief Eddie Garcia. “Therefore, I remain optimistic in our crime-fighting efforts and look forward to both the mid-and long-term strategies of this plan and the positive effect it will bring to our city.” Chief Garcia.
The researchers recently presented the results of their Period 2 hot spots policing evaluation to the City of Dallas Public Safety Committee in a PowerPoint presentation on January 10, 2022. (Below is a word document of the findings that were presented in the PowerPoint presentation)
In the Hot Spot Intervention report, the researchers detail the impact of the plan on violent crime since the plan’s inception in May of 2021 and through the end of 2021.
Key takeaways from the report include:
- Violent street crime was down more than 50% in the targeted hot spots during the Period 2 evaluation period (Sep-Nov 2021) compared to the previous three months
- Violent crime was also down more than 50% in the targeted hot spots since the plan began in May 2021
- Arrests and violence-related 911 calls also were down substantially in the targeted hot spot grids, indicating that the Plan did not result in “over-policing.” In fact, the Plan appears to have deterred violent crime significantly in the targeted areas, resulting in the need for fewer arrests for violence and fewer calls to the police
- Significantly, violent crime fell 14.5% in Dallas in 2021 compared to 2020. Homicides were down 12%, robberies were down more than 30% on average, and aggravated assaults were down 2%. This runs counter to the national trend of rising violent crime in many other big cities.
The next phase of the plan is set to begin in the coming weeks and will focus on networks of violent places in Dallas and the structural conditions that give rise to them.