Below are the topics of discussion for the Public Safety Committee meeting for Monday, March 28, 2016.

Year to Date Crime Report

The following crime statistics represent data from January 1, 2016 to February 29, 2016:

Deployment of New Task Forces

There has been an increase in violent crimes in most large cities across the country.  In the city of Dallas, violent crime is up 22%, more specifically, homicides are up over 80% driven by domestic violence and drug related homicides.

The overall crime which includes both violent and property crimes is up 6%.

This is unacceptable to the men and women of the Dallas Police Department. The protection of the whole community is our primary duty and responsibility, and we take this very seriously. 

Therefore, in response, we are bringing to bear the full force of the police department, in our efforts to save lives.

Strategically we will focus on the following:

Violent Crime Task Force ~ Officer deployments to geographic high volume violent crime areas

Domestic Violence Warrant Teams ~ Arresting domestic violence offenders expeditiously

Narcotic Drug Warrant Teams ~ Closing down drug houses and arresting drug dealers

Property Crime Task Force ~ Officer deployments to geographic high volume home burglary and car burglary areas

Community Policing 2.0 ~ Officer deployments from non-patrol bureau positions within the department to the field to assist with call answering and crime fighting

Foot patrols ~ Officer deployments to proactively walk in geographic high crime areas throughout the city to increase police presence

Community Policing 2.0 (CP 2.0)

Community Policing 2.0 was implemented in the Fall of 2011 as an effort to keep all officers connected to the community through front line fundamental police work in the Patrol Bureau. The CP 2.0 officers work for two consecutive weeks at one of the seven Patrol Bureau divisions, which they select in a bid process. The officers work third watch hours, 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., which are typically the highest for 9-1-1 calls and violent crimes. Officers can also choose to work in the Communications Division at the Phone Expediter’s desk addressing Priority 3 and 4 calls. So far, the CP 2.0 officers have responded to over 5,000 calls for service and have made 95 felony arrests. 

Communications Operations Center

The Police Communications Services Sections consists of 911 operators, police dispatchers and police report representatives. The 911 operators prioritize the 911 calls based on information provided by the caller and then create a call for service. The police dispatcher then gives the calls out to the patrol officers who are working the streets.

Officers have been trained to slow down instead of rush into critical incidents for greater officer and citizen safety. Critical incident calls require more manpower, which in turn ties up more officers to handle each call. Response times can be improved with the addition of police resources available to respond to calls. 

dw