Content from our friends over at Dallas Voice
Friday, September 4, 2009
Oak Lawn neighborhood #3 for crime in Dallas
Everyone knows the area in and around Dallas’ gay entertainment district can be a dangerous place — especially at night.
But a new crime analysis tool being used by the Dallas Police Department — called Target Area Action Grids, or TAAGs — appears to be shedding new light on just how bad the problem is.
The Cedar Springs Wycliff Target Area Action Grid, a roughly 1-square mile sector that encompasses the strip — recorded the third-highest number of violent offenses of any of the city’s worst crime hotspots in the first eight months of this year, according to a report compiled by DPD’s Crime Analysis Unit.
From Jan. 1 through Aug. 30, there were 134 violent crimes — which includes murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, the report shows. This put the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG at No. 3 on a list of 26 violent crime hotspots citywide, behind only the Northwest Highway/Harry Hines TAAG and the Five Points TAAG, which recorded 180 and 151 offenses, respectively.
Moreover, while violent crime was down 23 percent overall across the city’s 26 TAAGs from 2008 to 2009, according to the report, the number of offenses in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG had increased 21 percent.
City Councilwoman Angela Hunt, whose district includes portions of the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, called the numbers “frightening.”
“It’s very disheartening,” Hunt said. “I think it’s very clear that we’re going to have to increase police presence along Cedar Springs.”
Councilwoman Pauline Medrano, whose district includes the remainder of the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, stressed the importance of taking basic precautions, such as always being aware of your surroundings, parking in well-lit areas even if you have to pay, and traveling in groups.
“I think we’ve got to focus on educating our visitors,” Medrano said. “Sometimes we get so comfortable in what we do that we’re not thinking twice about safety.”
Hunt noted that despite the city’s current budget shortfall, council members intend to move forward with a plan to add roughly 200 police officers this year. But she added that it will ultimately be up to police officials to determine where those new officers are assigned.
Police Chief David Kunkle confirmed this week that the TAAG statistics have been and will continue to be a major factor in how the department allocates resources.
“The goal is to drive all the numbers down in all those 26 areas,” he said.
Kunkle also questioned how much of the violent crime in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG is tied directly to the gay entertainment district, and how much of it is related to aging, high-density apartment complexes in the surrounding neighborhood.
While it includes the gay entertainment strip, the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG also stretches in some places east of Lemmon Avenue, west of Maple Avenue, south of Oak Lawn Avenue and north of Kings Road.
“I think most of these incidents are not occurring on Cedar Springs and [in] the entertainment district itself,” Kunkle said. “I think Cedar Springs, based on my experience, is relatively safe and relatively problem-free, for an entertainment district. The greatest risk is getting on the side streets — dark, late at night, and if you’ve been drinking.”
Deputy Police Chief Malik Aziz, who’s over the department’s Northwest Division, which includes most of Oak Lawn, cautioned this week that TAAGs represent only one way of looking at crime statistics.
In DPD’s 540s Sector, which stretches roughly from Mockingbird Lane to Oak Lawn Avenue and from Highland Park to Harry Hines Boulevard, violent crime is down in 2009, Aziz said.
He also noted that in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, individual robberies —which have gone from 67 in 2008 to 95 so far this year — account for the vast majority of the increase in violent crime.
The report shows that through Aug. 30 in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, there had been one murder this year compared to zero last year, two rapes this year compared to four last year, 11 business robberies this year compared to 16 last year, and 25 aggravated assaults this year compared to 24 last year.
And despite the overall increase in violent crime this year in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG, there had been only two offenses in the last 28 days, compared to eight in the previous 28 days.
“In my opinion, we’re trending in the right direction,” Aziz said.
Local crime prevention advocates said they were surprised to learn that the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG ranks so high on the list. Unlike more traditional crime analysis statistics, the TAAG numbers aren’t routinely made available to the public.
“That blows me away,” said Nancy Weinberger, a longtime member of the Oak Lawn Apartment Managers and Stakeholders Crime Watch Group. “All I can tell you is that I’m shocked. It’s surprising, but it’s also very disappointing.”
Michael Robinson, who launched an LGBT hate crimes advocacy group after witnessing the brutal robbery of Jimmy Lee Dean in Oak Lawn last year, called the statistics “un-freakin’-believable.”
Robinson noted that the actual number of offenses in the Cedar Springs Wycliff TAAG may be even higher than the report shows, given that crime is historically underreported by LGBT people due to a fear of police and concerns about being outed.
Days after the second suspect in Dean’s attack was sentenced to 75 years in prison, Robinson said the numbers mean there’s a high probability something similar will happen in the future.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in this community,” said Robinson, founder of United Community Against Gay Hate.
Pegasus News content partner - Dallas Voice
The community newspaper for gay & lesbian Dallas.
Email
|
Print
|
Comment
|
Tell us your story
|
-
»Watch out for car burglaries this holiday season
-
»Fort Worth seeks non-punitive alternatives on graffiti
-
»Dallas man sentenced to life in prison for supplying drugs that killed Southern Methodist University student
-
»UT Arlington Innocence Network helps free two wrongly convicted men
-
»Dallas gunshot detection program being delayed by bureaucracy
I see Mooninites
DC Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Let's not forget there are many gay drug addicts in the area that will do just about anything for a fix..also lots of tranny hookers as well. It isn't just hate crimes..The problem is great impetus to keep tearing down the slums, but replacing it with overpriced condos isn't the ideal outcome. Many of the gay residents in the area are just plain old normal people who can't afford high priced townhomes or condos. Too bad developers don't care one bit.
Travis Bush Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
RENT in the Oaklawn area is expensive, coupled with the crime rate...so not worth it!! Especially on the other side of Lemmon Ave, where the duplexes are, near Hay elementary school. I remember when the only problem on Cedar Springs, were the hookers! And "Bubba", on his bike... stealing bottles in the bottle room,in back of Tom Thumb's store. TIMES HAVE CHANGED!!!
david torres Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
OAK LAWN ...home of early cults and night clubs in the 1920's, somethings cant change,but then again some Cosmic Coffee is cool...A/T, Cream and sugar at the Cosmic Cup...
alexander troup Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Hmmm... to think I am trying to sell my Plano home, where I don't even lock my doors, to move to Oak Lawn. Makes me wonder if I'm on the right track. It sure seems like a nice area when I drive through and I see people out walking their dogs. The drivers are a little tacky and are always blowing their horns at people... but I guess that's not it's worst problem.
dk Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
For the most part it is a great area to live. Lots of diversity and plenty of great places to eat in the area. There are unlit and secluded areas though, where you should probably avoid...Like some of the alleys closest to the strip. I have lived in and around Oak Lawn for about 15 years and have had very few problems.
Travis Bush Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
it USED to be a great place to live. Near Downtown, now it's crime-infested. relatives live nearby, in Glenn Heights. That's where the well-trained robbers go, when they graduate from the apartments/condos of Oak Lawn... Just my opinion.....
david torres Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Oak Lawn is definitely changing..and I think in some ways for the better. You don't see Oak Lawn residents outside the infamous Crack Alley anymore with their protest signs. Mainly because it no longer exists.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2003-11...
Even the area around Maple Avenue is changing, albeit slow enough not to get noticed by many.
Travis Bush Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Well, I like diversity and I like restaurants. I'm still planning on getting myself down there one day soon. And I think I'm gonna' like it. But I guess I will learn to lock my doors.
dk Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Access to the Katy Trail is another plus. As well, Bulli is a great place for a sandwich on the strip and all this summer they have hosted outdoor movies. Plus, this year was the first Cedar Springs Art Festival, which benefited the ongoing beautification efforts around the area. There are a lot more positives than negatives.
Travis Bush Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
I love most of Dallas and certainly use and/or enjoy all of Dallas including the areas peripheral to those on this list. But it is only fair to note that, for at least the second year in a row, that the top five violent crime areas in terms of sheer numbers in Dallas are, once again, ALL north of downtown and none represent the southern sectors that seem branded as 'dangerous' vs. 'good' and 'safe' parts of town. This confounds me year after year as bizarre, when this trend is no longer a new one and hardly an anomaly.
The 5 highest violent crime areas listed are, in order, in: northwest Dallas, northeast Dallas, central north/northeast Dallas, central Dallas Oak Lawn/Uptown and finally East Dallas. None are south (or west) of the Trinity River...meaning Oak Cliff or West Dallas....or south of downtown...meaning South Dallas, or south of I-30 east...meaning Southeast Dallas (which includes Pleasant Grove).
It's time we become a bit more honest and realistic recognizing how a city changes with time and the trends that indicate how the winds of change are blowing. In real terms I have zero ax to grind on this issue other than not calling a red dog blue: but an example of same only last night:
My area is very low crime. And last night in a dinner setting I mentioned a nice house is for sale at a steal price and I told my friend about it who lives in one of Dallas' hottest and expensive neighborhoods where I grew up. She said she likes my area but she feels safer where she is. She had earlier told me that evening about how she no longer locks he car doors when she parks her car in the driveway after having so many car breakins. Whereas I have never in 25 years ever had a car breakin, and when the 7 week roofing (standing seam) project on my house took place lately, the workers were able to leave the expensive extension ladders upright against my house near the street night after night along with their tools and nothing was ever taken. Try doing that on her street at her house. A house that would sell for at least three times what mine would...because of its terrific 'really good reputation'.
Without even living there, I could catalog incident after incident either smack dab within or surrounding some of my friends' upscale / pricey immediate areas but somehow it's all just dismissed as random incidents. My question is, if I have one, how long can Dallas continue playing realty smoke and mirror shell games per its neighborhood profiles, perceived or real, pro and con? I don't see this as being about winning a debate or argument but rather, acknowleging valid points that seems invisible to the chronically and/or willingly blind.
Rawlins Gilliland Verified
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
I have been robbed at gunpoint in this neighborhood and I'm damn mad that the city will only increase police patrols AFTER a homicide occurs. Where are the security cameras that are dotting downtown and uptown? Why aren't we doing more to light up those dark patches that serve as hiding spots for these criminals? Oh yeah, and the detective assigned to my case after the robbery -- completely useless.
I do think the area is moving in the right direction by tearing down old apartment buildings like 4242 Cedar Springs. And the rest of the slum lords need to be put on notice: thoroughly check your tenants for criminal history or lose your right to own property in this neighborhood.
lakewoodhobo Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
Lakewoodhobo, do you live in Oak Lawn? Where were you when this happened? That's awful scary. Listing house in Plano in an effort to be in Oak Lawn.
dk Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal
dk, I was renting an apartment on Reagan St. at the time, and I was walking home from Cafe Brazil (I knew it was dangerous, but I have always been careful and aware of my surroundings).
I still recommend the area, but stay away from the streets west of Cedar Springs, especially late at night. The closer you are to Lemon, the safer you'll be.
Now I live in Lakewood, where our biggest problem is the string of cat killings.
lakewoodhobo Anonymous
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal