DART reports 25% increase in crime for 2023
DALLAS - FOX 4 obtained crime statistics from DART that show a significant rise in crime on its trains and at its stations last year.
The agency hired additional security personnel to help curb the crime, but they weren't fully staffed until late last year. So it may be a while before we really know if it's working.
DART is funded with tax dollars. On January 4, FOX 4 requested DART’s crime numbers from last year. After receiving them this week, it revealed a 25% increase in crime.
[REPORTER: "Do you feel safe riding the train?"]
"I don’t really feel like my life is in jeopardy, like I’m going to get killed when I get on the train, but I am very cautious," DART rider Zach Middleton said.
Middleton emailed FOX 4 and called out DART for what he claims are, "failures…to do the bare minimum to provide safe travel." He copied DART’s chief of police and others in that email.
Middleton has seen FOX 4’s reporting about drug use, shootings, and even a case of a woman pistol-whipping a man on a DART train.
"That could’ve been the train that I was on," he said.
Last June, DART spent $7.5 million to hire more than 100 transit security officers on a one-year contract to ride trains and crack down on crime.
DART adding armed security guards on its trains to help bring down recent rise in crime
DART officially has new armed security guards riding on its trains in an effort to cut down on rising crime on its trains and at its stations.
It began hiring in July and became fully staffed in October. Those security officers are in addition to DART’s police force of more than 200 officers.
"DART is focused on making sure that we’re delivering a clean, a safe, and a reliable system for our customers," DART Chief Communications Officer Jeamy Molina said.
DART is reporting a 25% annual increase in crime.
In 2022, DART saw 1,591 Group A offenses. In 2023, that number increased to 1,995.
[REPORTER: "These numbers are rising, but you think the transit security officer program is working?"]
"Yes, our transit security officers are making a difference," Molina said.
DART believes it is seeing an increase in criminal offense reports because it has more ridership and more officers to take notice.
Drug offenses are up 44%, while destruction/damage/vandalism is up 42%.
Those are crimes that might go unreported if not caught in the act, but assaults are up 21%.
There were 747 assaults reported last year. That’s more than two each day.
Robberies are up 34%. There were 169 last year.
Assaults and robberies are types of crimes you might think will eventually get reported regardless of if a security officer sees it.
[REPORTER: "Overall, violent crime is slightly trending downward in the city of Dallas, but that was not the case here. Do you think that is a problem?"]
"Homicides and sexual assaults are down because of the presence of our security officers on our trains," Molina said.
Sex offenses dropped from 22 to 15, while homicides dropped from five to two.
On Wednesday, DART began investigating a homicide.
"Well, it’s very frustrating," Middleton said.
Middleton rides DART to and from work. He said he’ll continue to be aware of his surroundings.
"Who’s getting on at the next stop, who’s getting off, what’s going on?" he said.
DART’s transit security officer contract is up for renewal in June.
DART said about 50% of the assaults are from people experiencing homelessness, and it’s working with organizations to identify some of the unhoused to get help.