Residents pack meeting about Downtown Dallas crime

DALLAS - It was a packed house tonight at a gathering focused on downtown Dallas crime.

People were there to get answers about their safety after several of them were robbed, and one woman was beaten and car-jacked.

Before hand there was talk of teamwork to make downtown Dallas a safer place, but there was an underlying debate going on.

Had there been a spike in violent crime or was it just a perception problem spurred on by social media?

Overall crime downtown, Dallas Police say, is down.

Rampant use of K2, a synthetic marijuana, is another problem Dallas police say is tying up officers.

Since January, the Dallas Police Department has added 25 officers dedicated to patrolling downtown from 11 pm to 7 am.

Still, there was a lot of grumbling at tonight's meeting.

Some people are convinced that violent crime has spiked, just that it's being underreported.