DALLAS — Dallas has seen a surge in homicides this month, averaging more than one person killed every day.
According to data from the Dallas Police Department, there have been 62 homicides this year, that’s a 35% increase from the same time last year.
“I don’t feel afraid, but I feel alarmed,” Candace Fleming, the COO at Urban Specialists, said. “I’m devastated, devastated that it could be my 13-year-old son that was perpetuating it because of a lack of hope or that was the victim because when was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Urban Specialists work around Dallas to reduce violence by targeting issues like poverty, drugs and hopelessness.
“Violence has been with us for a long time,” she said. “These root causes have been with us for a long time.”
In the first 18 days of March, there were 21 homicide victims.
“That’s crazy. That’s insane,” Fleming said. “When we talk about 21 people murdered in less than 30 calendar days, it becomes more real.”
“People, in general, focus on homicides because it’s the scariest of all the crimes that take place,” Dr. Alex Del Carmen, the assistant dean of criminology at Tarleton St, said.
Del Carmen says police expect up and down months and try to use data to better target crime, but he says homicides are often the most difficult crimes to prevent.
Shootings are about the same as this time last year, down to 96 people shot in aggravated assaults from 107 this time last year.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia noted violent crime is 3.5% higher but believes trends are headed in the right direction.
“We’ve had a challenging first quarter, no question about it,” Garcia said. “We have to control what we can control. Our officers are in the spots where we know violent crime exists so we stay the course, we stay focused.”
Fleming says there’s no simple solution. Their group is working to actively recruit people with influence in communities and may have had a criminal history of their own, but they now want to mentor youth.
Garcia said they aren’t making changes and will stick with their crime plan.
“We know the plan has worked for the last two years,” Garcia. “We know that the reduction in violent incidents will lead us to less victims.”
With a surge in deadly violence, there’s a hurry to find an answer.
“We just have to be patient to see how these numbers unravel in the coming months,” Del Carmen said.