State troopers being sent to aid Dallas PD to deal with ‘out of hand’ violent crime

(The Center Square) — Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide direct support to the Dallas Police Department in its efforts to reduce violent crime and protect the city.

State troopers are being sent into Dallas in response to a spike in violent crime, just hours after Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson held a news conference outside of City Hall. He said, the city is “well beyond the time for more active police intervention.”

“The violent crime in the city is out of hand. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it,” he said.

Earlier this week, Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall said she was sending more officers to high-crime areas to deal with violent offenses, but Johnson said this should have been done months ago.

“We are long overdue for a full-court press,” Johnson said.

Critics asked why this wasn’t done last year — in 2019 alone, the number of murders committed in Dallas spiked to the highest level in more than a decade. More than 200 homicides had been committed in Dallas by the end of 2019, a record high since 2007. In May alone, 40 people were killed.

Prior to the state shutdown in March, Dallas was already one of the most violent cities in the nation. Based on FBI violent crime data as of September 2019, total crime was 68 percent above the national average in Dallas, violent crime was 127 percent above it, and property crime was 57 percent above the national average.
https://www.cali.fm/state-troopers-being-sent-to-aid-dallas-pd-to-deal-with-out-of-hand-violent-crime/