Dallas’ worst violent crime hot spots in North Dallas: Shawn on KLIF 570’s Jeff Bolton Show Wednesday Morning to discuss
Categories: Blogging, Dallas, Featured, Justice/Law Enforcement, Shawn Williams, Sports
Written By: Shawn Williams
According to statistics released by the Dallas Police Department, the three areas in Dallas that have the most violent crimes are all north of downtown. While that may be surprising to some, it’s should not come as a shock to the Dallas South Family.
I’ll be on KLIF 570’s Jeff Bolton Show in the morning to discuss these findings. The segment will air around 6:15 a.m., so you’ll have to be an early bird if you want to catch the Shawn.
For years now we have been relying on data provided by the Williams Institute to try to break the myth that Southern Dallas leads the city in crime. The data that they have cited in their “Wholeness Index - Crime Rate” is in line with the statistics provided by the DPD.
According to the Dallas Police Department, the three worst crime “hot spots” are:
1. Five Points: 357 violent crimes
2. Forest at Audelia: 305 violent crimes
3. Northwest Highway at Harry Hines: 286 violent crimes
The most violent spot in South Dallas is Hatcher at 2nd (#4) with 202 violent crimes, and the first location to show up in Oak Cliff is the Jefferson Corridor (#9) 173 violent crimes.
One of the things that developers use as an excuse for not building in Southern Dallas is the threat of crime. I doubt you would hear crime as excuse not to build in the Cedar Springs at Wycliff area which came in at #8 with 175 violent crimes.
We’ve got to stop making up truths and believing in falsehoods. The city and its leaders have to do their part to rebrand Southern Dallas. It’s not the crime ridden spot that everyone wants to make it out to be.
For more on this story check out Channel 11’s story on Dallas Violent Crime areas.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
There’s bad spots in every neighborhood, and I know where they are here in teh Grove. But except in the worst of spots, I know that I’m more likely to have trouble up in Five Points or by my brother’s place just south of Addison.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
We’re trying. Not blaming media, but there is a bias toward coverage. Nobody knows about the good stuff unless you’re super plugged in. The average citizen has no clue.
It seems like every single violent crime in the south gets coverage, but the good stuff doesn’t get a sniff.
Example: When Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson came to the Cliff with Dwaine Caraway and Carolyn Davis and few others a few weeks back to celebrate the ongoing construction for the Heroes basketball camp….only one station aired it despite all of them being in attendance.
On the same day, every station fully covered a Tarrant county fugitive that was apprehended near Overton & Bonnie View.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I am not sure what is described at ‘five points’.
I do know however that my friends who have extremely expensive homes have had 1) a police officer murdered two doors away (Madera street off Henderson) 2) breakins in their cars frequently (Bluff View area) 3) drive way robberies (Near North Dallas) 4) Assault (Uptown/Oak Lawn) 5) Stabbintg/slash (Katy Trail adjacent)for starters. But they live in ‘good’ neighborhoods so it’s worth every penny. Right? (According to their realtor)
February 4th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
“It seems like every single violent crime in the south gets coverage, but the good stuff doesn’t get a sniff. ”
Yeah yeah yeah, it is the classic tale of the white man keeping the brothas down.
“Assault (Uptown/Oak Lawn) 5) Stabbintg/slash (Katy Trail adjacent)for starters”
And who do you think is commiting these crimes? The owners of 300k -1 million dollar houses and condos?
I live in Oaklawn and if we could get rid of the Katrina “victims” it would be alot safer. These neighborhoods your talking about used to be urban blight, and it takes time to get rid of the bad elements that have plagued these areas for decades. I suggest you stop whining and so something for your “hood” and make a diffrence instead of worring about other areas. We have started gentrifying our neighborhoods why not try the same in your area.
“But they live in ‘good’ neighborhoods so it’s worth every penny. Right? (According to their realtor)”
Some areas of Oaklawn have doubled in value in the last five years as have parts of Bluffview, sound to me like it is worth every penny… Now if we could get property taxes lowered if would be great. But until the goverment stops giving constant handouts to the poor, we will just keep on footing the bill… MB
February 5th, 2009 at 8:09 am
It really doesn’t surprise me that the areas in the northern sectors have a higher crime rate than does South Dallas. Why would anyone want to rob the poor folks when there are plenty of rich folks up in North Dallas?
I’m a 49 yo white guy. I moved to Dallas almost 30 yrs ago. Lived in an apartment in Mesquite a short while, rented a house in Balch Springs for several years then bought a house near Buckner and Elam where I lived for 15 yrs.
Back in the early 80’s most apartment complexes were a decent place to live, especially those that are in the high crime zones now. I had friends that lived in those areas and never felt any threat when I visited them. In those days many of the complexes had a large young adult population and were “Party-Central”. We had some good times. Then we all got older, got married, had families and bought homes in the burbs. One thing we all had when we rented were jobs so we were taking care of ourselves, being semi-responsible, paying our own way. We might have known someone occasionally that was drawing un-employment but it was usually short lived because we knew it was our resposibility to provide for ourselves.
Now most of the same demographic that lived in the North Dallas apartments in the 80s lives in apartments in places like Frisco, Allen and Mckinney or in simular areas in Tarrant and Denton counties. By demographic I mean the folks that are employed, trying to provide for themselves and children and want to continue an upward climb.
I don’t know for sure but would suspect that a large portion of the residents of these areas now receive some type of subsidy for rent or food. I would also suspect that as in most cases, street crime is predominantly drug related and that there is a higher amount drug activity in these areas.
When my friends and I were part of the party crowd mostly we just drank and smoked pot. Occassionaly we got some other things but it never became habitual for most of us. Then the whole country got flooded with cocaine and folks learned about Free-Basing because of Richard Pryor. Lets face it, most of us would never have known that it could be smoked if he hadn’t set himself on fire.
Herion has made a comeback in the form of cheese. It seems that it is more prevailant in the Hispanic community but Plano and the northern burbs have had their problems too. I have a friend whose child got hooked and they live in Kaufman county.
I suspect that methamphetamine is the biggest problem now and it is widespread. Most of it is now being made south of the border and smuggled in. It is highly profitable and highly addictive. A deadly combination.
When people don’t have jobs that they have to get up and go do it gives them a reason to get high everyday. When the jobs that they can get don’t pay enough to “justify” their time and they can make more money poisoning people or renting their bodies or robbing folks to fill their pipes this is what you get. When you take away the incentive to work by supplying people with a place to live and food to eat you just add to the problem. When the “gangsta ” lifestyle is glamourized, the impressionable youth buy into it and see it as a viable career choice when the pro sports route fails.
The underlying fact is that being on the gov’t dole tends to make people less incentivized to get out, kill something and drag it back to the cave. What started out as a “hand-up” has turned into a “hand-out” that is just as addictive as any of the drugs. Is there inequity out there? Sure there is. Can you do all the right things and still fail? You bet.
So what’s the answer? Personal Resposibility, Education, a change of Mind Set.
People need to realize that everyone can’t have everything they want. They need to realize that often times just because you want it doesn’t mean you really need it. Just because you see someone with it doesn’t mean that you should have it because they do. It’s one of the reasons that the Economy is in the condition it is. People wanting more than they could afford, “salesmen” convincing that they can afford it. More “salesmen” selling false promises that people could take it easy and retire with the lifestyle they came to expect. Ever since the original salesman marketed that fruit we have all been doomed to wanting and expecting more than we really need. Most of us are chasing the deceptive “American Dream” of Perpetual Prosperity failing to realize that the “Ideals” this country was founded on didn’t promise anything more than the Freedom given to us by the Creator to make choices for ourselves. It doesn’t eleminate our individual responsibilty to treat each other with the same respect we would want for ourselves. Nor does it excuse us for making bad choices.
About 10 yrs ago I moved to a rural area about 40 miles east of Dallas. I don’t have much but it’s all paid for. My 70 yr old house is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, my 15 yr old vehicles don’t cost me anything more than basic operational costs. I have no reason to go into debt for anything. If I lose my job I’ll start turning things off to reduce my bills until I find work.
I still travel all over the Metroplex for my job and see many different areas. I sometimes take a drive back through “The Grove” just to see why I wanted to get the hell out. I have a CHL and carry everyday just in case.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:58 am
The above post should have been signed ‘Duh Boyz Clueless’ because:
1) This thread is about how Dallas’ hot crime hot spots are north of downtown, not south.
2) Southeast dallas….the ‘Grove’ as oldtimers, and yes largely black, call it…..was, in 2008, the second lowest crime rate in Dallas.
Hot Tips:
1) Read
2)Learn that perception is a poor substitute for fact.
3)The way things ‘were’ has often very little to do with how things ‘are’.
4) Getting older is inevitable. Getting lost in time is a choice.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Actually the grove has the highest crime rate over dallas. Dont be fooled by the media and what they present. Its just to get away from the true facts deadliets places in dallas. Which is southeast dallas. ‘ The gROVE” . Those places in North Dallas just recently had a sparking rise in crime over the past year but most of the crime rate over here has been here since the early 90’s. Scyene rd. and St. Augustine rd to bruton and lake june are very active in robberies, killings, and drugtrafficking. Then several miles away back over there off John West to Buckner, to peavy and ferguson those surrounding areas are populated with a blend of every thing. From cold hearted gangbangers to dope fiends, I have seen muders and robberies during the day with my own two eyes. Major police and swat patrol this area and it still doesnt work. The criminals are smooth in there gruesome activity and heartless at the same time, which makes it alot unsafer.
April 10th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
2 words….. Audelia and Skillman.
April 13th, 2010 at 10:24 am
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that people who are looking to commit crime are not going to do it in their own “hood”. Hmmm…where do people go that want to commit crime that has the greatest likelihood of yielding valuables and yields the least resistance???
TO OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE MORE AFFLUENT PEOPLE LIVE!! If you’re going to risk going to jail for felony assault / robbery / attempted murder / etc. any smart criminal is going to go rob the “rich folk”.