DALLAS — It’s the busiest weekend of the summer for the Dallas Police Department.
The department says it gets more calls for service 4th of July weekend than any other time of the year, except New Year’s Eve. So, police are ready for calls of illegal fireworks and random gunfire.
But their primary focus is still on violent crime.
Friday evening, officers were at an apartment complex in Oak Cliff. It’s one of the hot spots. Dallas police said they've had multiple shootings at the complex.
"This where we had a shooting three nights ago, where a guy shot at a car with six people,” said First Assistant Chief Al Martinez, Dallas Police Department.
It's one of the 47 grids in the city that police are focused on.
"It's mostly a grid because of the motels. That's what feeds it,” said Chief Martinez.
WFAA rode with Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia to some of those areas.
"What our data and science tells us is that very few parts of our city are responsible for a lot of the violent crime,” said Chief Garcia.
He wants to be clear that it’s only small pockets in every part of the city that are a problem and it’s repeat offenders they are after.
"Arresting reoffenders that are causing violence and causing issues in our city is what we are doing,” said Chief Garcia.
Dallas PD is sending more resources to the hot spots. Paul Baccus, who lives in one of the grids, spoke at a news conference Thursday about his concerns about random gunfire.
“Knowing bullets have to come down that’s the scary part,” said Baccus.
Baccus said he welcomes more police.
Chief Garcia said he’s hearing the same thing from community groups who want their neighborhoods back.
"I’ve never heard anyone ask for less police, in fact, communities impacted by violent crime are asking for more,” said Chief Garcia.
Garcia said they are seeing some small decreases in violent crime already, but he said he knows it's too soon to declare victory.