Dallas Must Increase Police Presence Downtown |
|
|
McKinney recently increased the number of police officers in their downtown area due to the growing vagrancy problem. This solution makes sense – obviously, crime warrants police intervention – but Dallas, in recent years, has experienced an increase in homelessness that far outpaces McKinney’s. Yet, the Dallas Police Department remains understaffed by about 1,000 officers.
Dallas’s City Council can not claim to be fighting the vagrancy crisis until they take this simple step to make our downtown safer.
Residents and businesses of downtown McKinney reported the increase in homeless and vagrant individuals in the area as disruptive. “We had some people who would come in and ask for food, and of course, you want to help, but then it started becoming all the time where they would come in and just fall asleep at the tables,” one business owner said.
|
| With vagrancy causing these problems in McKinney, which reports a homeless population of 223, imagine how bad the problem is for Dallas with a homeless population of over 4,200! Dallas residents don't have to imagine. Every heavily trafficked public space in Dallas, especially downtown, is marred by vagrancy. Every Dallas resident and business owner has witnessed the harmful effects of the runaway problem of vagrancy and associated panhandling.
Keep Dallas Safe’s mission is to make Dallas cleaner and safer for all residents and businesses, but our City Council has a different agenda.
Are you tired of being accosted by panhandlers when you enter a store? Do you miss the days when there wasn’t a vagrant sleeping on every public bench in the city?
Contact your council member and ask them why they won’t enable officers to arrest criminal vagrants who steal our public spaces. Demand they take Dallas’s safety seriously and hire 1,000 more officers ASAP!
|
|
|
Police Response Times Run High Amid Staffing Shortage |
Dallas PD is still understaffed, and city residents suffer from it as response times continue to run high. It currently takes 11.3 minutes for officers to respond to the highest-priority 911 calls (nearly two minutes longer than last year). How safe do you feel in Dallas knowing it will take more than 10 minutes for police to respond when your life is in danger? DPD needs to hire 1,000 more officers ASAP. Read more...
|
|
|
DPD to Release Video of Shootout With Murder Suspect |
Is it any wonder that our city can’t hire or retain police officers? Working as a police officer is always dangerous, especially in a major city like Dallas. Yet, smaller and safer jurisdictions like Plano or Southlake are pay officers more! DPD will be understaffed as long as it is underfunded by Dallas City Council, and that has dire consequences for residents and officers alike. Read more...
|
|
|
South Dallas Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, Suspect at Large |
The suspect in a double murder case in South Dallas is still at large. Could that have anything to do with DPD’s abysmal response times? Response times are up across the city, but in South Dallas, top-priority calls take even longer at 13.8 minutes. Criminals in South Dallas have plenty of time to escape the scene of the crime. Read more...
|
|
|
|
Each week the KDS team drives its planned route through Dallas photo-documenting and cataloguing illegal encampments to inform the city of these locations. Our team livestreams these activities giving the community a first-hand look at the vagrancy crisis in Dallas. In this episode, we found a camp inside of a high school parking lot. Watch here! |
|
|
District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua's
"Fire Hazard Camp" |
This camp in Adam Bazaldua’s District 7 has earned the title “Fire Hazard Camp.” Last year, there were 1,261 reports of trash fires in Dallas, but those are only the ones we know about. Fires lit by vagrants present a serious danger to our city. The recent devastating fire in LA is suspected to have been started by a homeless person! It’s a matter of time until a fire like this destroys lives and millions of dollars worth of property.
|
| |
|
District 14 Councilman Paul Ridley's
"School Camp" |
We named this camp in Paul Ridley’s District 14 “School Camp.” This parking lot for Booker T. Washington High School is surrounded by vagrant camps – there is even one inside of the unlocked fence. How could anyone feel safe sending their kids to school in Dallas, where vagrants are allowed to set up camp wherever they wish? |
| |
|
District 2 Councilman Jesse Moreno's
"Slumber Party Camp" |
This camp in Jesse Moreno’s District 2 has been dubbed “Slumber Party Camp.” Vagrants have it easy in Dallas. They treat every public space like their own bedroom, and the City Council enables them. Cash handouts and vouchers from the city fund the vagrant lifestyle, while the cops are told not to arrest them for breaking the law. |
| |
|
To Report an Encampment: Dial 3-1-1 or Call (214) 670-3111 and Click on your District Councilman to Email them with the Date and Camp Location.
|
|
|
Mission Statement:
Keep Dallas Safe exists to address crime and homelessness in Dallas with the goal of transforming Dallas into the safest large city in Texas for residents and businesses. We aim to have a City Council that prioritizes crime rate which directly determines the quality of life in Dallas. We do this by fighting against the "defund the police" movement, holding accountable our city leaders' efforts towards lowering district crime rates, and highlighting our city's homelessness problems by pushing for enforcement of the prohibition of urban camping.
|
|
|
Keep Dallas Safe | 3626 North Hall St, Ste 610, Dallas, TX 75219 |
|
|
|
