Violent crime drops 19% thanks to reduction plan – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

After three years, Dallas Police Department officials say their plan to reduce violent crime is paying off.

New figures show that overall violence has fallen by more than 19% compared to the three years before the plan came into force.

After a South Oak Cliff High School student was shot near campus on Monday, some in the community say more needs to be done to make Dallas safer.

Minutes before students at South Oak Cliff High School were dismissed, an emergency broke out further down the street.

“I heard about four or five loud gunshots,” said Roberto Arellano, who lives on Overton Avenue.

A Dallas ISD official told NBC 5 that a freshman student was at nearby South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park when she was shot and ran back to campus to get medical help.

The school held off on the dismissal while police began an investigation.

Dallas ISD officials said the victim was not believed to be the target. Dallas police said the student was grazed by a bullet and will survive.

“This is very heavy on our hearts,” said Carolyn King Arnold, representative of the Dallas City Council's 4th District. “Because we keep reading headlines about young people whose lives are taken at a very, very young age.”

The shooting came three days after David Washington, a 12th-grader at Kimball High School, was shot to death in South Dallas; a 16-year-old is now charged with his murder.

On Monday, Dallas police provided an update on the overall violent crime situation in the city.

“Traditional crime rates are declining year after year,” said UTSA professor Dr. Michael Smith, one of the architects of the city’s plan to reduce violent crime.

Dallas police said violent crime in Dallas fell 19.2% from 2021 to 2024 compared to the previous three years.

They said it was due to the impact of the police department's Violent Crime Reduction Plan, an ongoing effort that consists of three phases: Hotspot Policing, a grid system that sends more officers to the city's high-crime areas; Place Network Investigations, which sends law enforcement officers and investigators to troubled housing complexes; and Focused Deterrence, which helps direct resources to people considered particularly violent.

“This plan to fight crime would not work without the participation of the men and women of this department,” said Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia. “They are fully committed to this; they are doing a great job.”

The numbers were not all positive: data showed that the total number of murders increased by 7% between 2021 and 2024 compared to the three years before the plan.

But murders in Dallas fell nearly 25% this year compared to 2023, and police said they hope to expand that plan to combat violent crime.

“We hope this will be permanent and integrated into the activities of the Dallas Police Department, which is about building stronger communities,” Garcia said.

On Monday, NBC 5 also learned for the first time how much this plan to combat violent crime is costing the city of Dallas: Garcia said the police department has spent a total of $24 million since 2021 to implement and run the project.