Year-end Dallas stats show an impressive drop in violent crime. How did Chief Eddie Garcia do it?
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Dallas police Chief Eddie Garcia, a smooth politician who knows how to stay on offense -- and off defense swears that he deserves little credit for the dramatic 2021 drop in violent crime in his newly adopted hometown. "It's on the back of our men and women," he told me repeatedly over coffee a few days ago. "We're not where we want to be. There will be challenging times ahead."
But this top cop, a blue-collar kind of chief with a cheerleader-like enthusiasm that belies his 30 years of experience, knows he's had a strong rookie season in Dallas. Garcia's mandate was simple but not easy: Reduce violent crime.
With just a few days left in 2021 -- and in a year when most big U.S. cities posted big increases in violence -- here's where things stand in Dallas:
Violent crime has dropped 9% over the previous year -- and 12% since Garcia's prevention plan was implemented in early May. This year's tally of 220 homicide victims is a 12% drop from the 250 in 2020.
Garcia told me the department is every bit as proud of another statistic: "You haven't seen a spike in arrests." In fact, arrests have gone down by almost 5%.
"That tells us we are targeting the right individuals -- not all individuals," Garcia said. "Our goal to be laser-focused on violent crime looks to be working."
