Assaults and drug offenses drive crime in the Pleasant Grove area

Councilman Jaime Resendez's 5th District saw the smallest year-over-year drop in crime rates in July, placing second in the battle for the July crime boss title.

As previously reported by The Dallas ExpressCouncilmember Chad West (Ward 1) received the “Crime Boss” award for his district's 1.59% year-over-year crime rate increase recorded last month. However, Resendez came in behind him, recording only an 8.1% year-over-year crime rate reduction.

The leading causes of crime in District 5 in July included simple assault, drug offenses, intimidation and theft.

Simple assaults increased by 7.4%, from 68 crimes last July to 73 in July 2024. Drug offenses doubled, with 40 cases documented last month. Intimidation cases increased slightly, by 19%. Thefts also increased, with city data showing an 18.8% increase from the previous year.

Dallas police are struggling to combat crime as they continue to suffer from severe staffing shortages. The police department has only around 3,000 sworn field personnel, although a city analysis indicates that around 4,000 are needed to maintain public safety and speed up police response times.

With a budget of just $654 million for the DPD this year, Dallas City Council members chose to spend less taxpayer money on public safety than other high-crime districts such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

Council member Resendez could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Dallas Express, The People's Paper believes that important information about the city, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible to you. According to data from the FBI's UCR database, Dallas has more crime per capita than hot spots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York.

What's the crime situation in your area? Check out our interactive crime map to compare all of the Dallas City Council districts. Curious how we arrived at our numbers? Check out our methodology page here.