Police inform Dallas officials about personnel and violent crimes

On Monday, police officials briefed the Public Safety Commission on the Dallas Police Department’s recruitment efforts and plan to reduce violent crime.

“Overall, the violent crime rate in Dallas is down just over 17%,” said Maj. Jason Scoggins. “These numbers apply again until the end of May. Aggravated assaults dropped by 22.24% and homicides dropped by almost 27%. I mean, in our eyes it’s amazing now.”

The new report shows that both crime categories were “two significant factors” in the full-year data. Additionally, the number of attacks on individuals decreased by 10%, while attacks on companies increased by over 22%.

“As Major mentioned, the city’s highest violent crime rate continues to trend in a very positive direction,” said Kevin Oden, director of Integrated Public Safety Solutions.

Dallas Express last month it said violent crimes were down 18% compared to the same period a year ago.

“As we enter the summer months, there is no doubt that these are challenging times,” Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Monday. “This is not the time to celebrate… but we must redouble our efforts. We are victims of our own success. Yes, we are in a good place, but we are still far from where we would like to be as a city.

As previously reported DXalthough violent crimes are declining, overall crime has been steadily increasing over the past few years. For example, motor vehicle thefts have reached record highs and downtown Dallas remains rife with criminal activity.

The four types of crimes considered violent crimes are robbery, negligent homicide, aggravated assault and rape, as defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The cornerstone of the city’s violent crime reduction plan is to map 330-by-330-foot hot spot crime networks – about the size of a football field – assigned to patrol units. Dallas Express reported in February. On June 1, DPD began work on Phase 16 of the network, which adjusts approximately every 60 days based on analysis of Dallas crime data.

DPD only has about 3,000 officers in the field, Dallas Express reported. The city report recommends a force of 4,000 to properly ensure public safety. Its $654 million budget is smaller than that of law enforcement agencies in other high-crime jurisdictions such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In DPD’s monthly recruitment and retention report, Major Pollyanna Ashford stated that the latest police academy classes were expected to eventually have 50 recruits.

“In May, the number of police candidates referred by the civil service was 112,” she said. “We had 65 candidates who went through the background process or… entered it. We anticipate that there will be over 50 people there (in July). We currently have 16 scheduled for July 17th.

During the current fiscal year, the civil service, i.e. City employees, referred 785 candidates as part of the candidate referral and retention pilot program. Of those, 133 entered the police academy, Ashford said.

In May, “our recruiters attended 24 events,” she said. “55 candidates presented at the headquarters and took part in the initial phase of on-site testing.”

Applicants must successfully complete a background check, including psychological and medical examinations, electronic fingerprinting and drug screening, before proceeding to the second phase of the recruitment process.