Deadly weekend brings number of Dallas homicides to 90
DALLAS - In the first four months of 2023, the city of Dallas has seen an alarming number of homicides with at least 90 so far.
But police say violent crime continues to trend downward overall. They are hoping homicides slow down, too.
The Dallas Police Department admits it’s seeing an uptick in homicides so far this year. Homicides are higher than this time last year and the year before.
It was another deadly weekend in Dallas with at least two homicides since Friday.
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That brings the total number of homicides in the city to 90. At this time last year, there were 72. The year before that, it was 70. In 2020, it was 54.
It’s a number that’s trending up even as other violent crimes go down.
"One life is too many," said Kristin Lowman with Dallas PD. "We are not pleased with the number of victims that we have seen."
Dallas police and city leaders continue to tout violent crime is on a downward trend.
When accounting for all violent crimes including assaults and robberies, it’s down by nearly 7% from this time last year. And last year’s violent crime rate was down from the year before.
Homicide data tells a different story right now, but police say there’s more to it than just the raw numbers.
"In one week recently, there were three homicides that occurred with nine victims. So you had three incidents, nine victim versus over this weekend we had several homicides. And in each one of those, it was one victim," Lowman said. "We are looking at a lower number of incidents but a higher number of victims that are associated with those cases."
FILE - File image of crime scene tape. (FOX TV Stations)
Lowman is talking about just last month when police responded to a quadruple homicide in Northwest Dallas.
Just days later, there was a double homicide in Deep Ellum, killing an innocent bystander.
"It’s the first truly challenging quarter we have had since 2021 where we are looking at these numbers. These are incidents where some are random acts of violence. Some are known to one another," Lowman said.
For now, the city and police are sticking with a violent crime reduction plan implemented two years ago targeting small areas that are high in crime because they are seeing results overall.
"What we are doing right now is we use the date to make sure our officers are in the areas we are seeing the most amount of violent crime," Lowman said. "They are continuing to stay the course. They are going to be treating those hot spot areas."
And police say even though the trend is up now, it can be reversed.
"Over the past three year in Quarter One, we have seen where murder has gone up. But by the end of the year, we are down in terms of murder and violent crime," Lowman said. "This isn’t something we haven’t seen before. We are prepared going into the summer months and knowing what to expect."
The Dallas Police Department says it’s no secret they are still dealing with a staffing shortage but say they are prepared for the summer months ahead.