For Dallas City Council District 1, Community Engagement is The Key to 17% Drop in Crime

From CandysDirt.com – April 17, 2023

Few people are willing to say it out loud, but in the early 1990s, when some of today’s city leaders were in high school, Oak Cliff was a place where parents told their children not to hang out after dark.

Now the area covered by Dallas City Council District 1 — including North Oak Cliff and the Bishop Arts District — is thriving, engaged, and on the lower end of the overall crime ranking for the 14 council districts, coming in at No. 10 in the number of crimes reported last year.

“I can only speak for my district, which is a small piece of Oak Cliff,” he said. “I think it’s [due in part to] more engaged neighborhoods. Over half of the geographic area that I represent is empowered by neighbors who have taken it upon themselves to take leadership and take ownership.”

Year-to-date stats in District 1 show decreases in property crime (almost 18 percent), crimes against persons (9 percent), robberies (37 percent), and vandalism/destruction of property (15.44 percent) compared to this time last year.

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