Friday, March 29, 2024 Mar 29, 2024
60° F Dallas, TX
Advertisement
Publications

HOW SAFE IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

No, the police can’t promise you won’t be a victim of crime. But depending on your part of tows, they can tell you what to watch out for.
By CHRIS THOMAS |

HASNT ALMOST EVERYONE IN DALLAS BEEN A CRIME victim at one time or another? You can probably relate to my feelings of panic and confusion the day I whipped my garage door open by remote control, then shut it again as my brain registered the gaping, three-foot hole in it. I sat there, mute, hoping that a neighbor had accidentally backed a car into the door, but knowing full well that my home had been burglarized. Had the intruders let the cat out, or worse-had they killed the cat? Did anyone hear them? What did they take? When could this have happened, and how, and did they have guns, and where was the getaway car, and were they still inside… ?

I called the cops and my husband from a neighbor’s place, and the rest is as typical as any other burglary tale. A couple of Dallas’s finest, seeming only vaguely interested, took notes as I followed them around, rambling on too long about each item as I listed our losses. The VCR was gone. A small camera, a watch, and a camcorder had vanished. All my baubles were spread out on the master bed, but only a small emerald necklace and earrings seemed to be missing-my only pieces of “real” jewelry. It was eerie. The police partners lectured us about leaving a key in the patio door, although the burglars had broken in through the garage, kicking in two locked doors. No finesse, no sneaking around-only brute force and lightning speed.

Our feelings of inadequacy continued with the insurance company, as we-the newly burgled-realized we should have gone to great lengths to anticipate this crime and to provide not only the exact value and serial numbers of the items, but proof that we had actually possessed them. The claim was settled fairly quickly, but the whole episode made us feel stupid, frustrated, and naive.

I made two follow-up calls to the police to see if any of the stolen goods had been recovered. The man on the phone played along, feigning official concern when 1 knew he probably wanted to guffaw; “Lady, are you serious?” After a while, I quit calling.

I still think about our lost stuff now and then. I imagine that our VCR provides some happy moments in the scary, uncertain world of a drug dealer’s child, or that my emerald pendant adorns his girlfriend’s neck as they dance in some smoky club. I wonder if they think about where these things came from, but I doubt it.

Today, like so many Dallasites, our insurance rates are higher, our garage door is made of metal, and our eyes are wide open. We have photographs of our valuables and receipts for them, carefully filed. Talking with more than a dozen police officers around the city for this article has been helpful, too. But as much as I want to believe we will never be victims again, not one of them could make that promise. Here’s why not.

NORTHEAST

IN THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT’S NORTHEAST DIVISION, as elsewhere in the city, property crimes have soared. Residential burglaries like the one we experienced are known as “smash and grabs, ” and I am urged by the division’s community relations officer, Senior Cpl. Randy Ferguson, to look at the bright side of it.

“At least they’re in and out quickly, and it limits your loss, ” he says. Then, without a clue from me, Ferguson and fellow officer Mark Taylor correctly guess what was taken. Apparently, my burglary was routine to everyone but me.

The Northeast division encompasses about 75 square miles, and includes the neighborhoods of Casa Linda, Casa View, Lakewood, and Lake Highlands; the Jackson Creek area; parts of Old Vickery Park; the restaurant and club strip of Lower Greenville Avenue; and the high-density apartment area known as The Village.

Auto theft is so common here that two cars have even been nabbed from the police station lot. What gets stolen most frequently? “General Motors products” is the answer, citywide. Generally, the highest theft areas are those that allow easy entrance and exit, especially those with easy freeway access. On a large map, crime analyst Taylor points to the Ferguson-Woodmeadow Road area on the edge of Garland, the 12000 block of Jupiter Road near Northwest Highway, and the neighborhood between Amanda Lane and Pandora Drive near LBJ Freeway.

So what if you’d like to keep your car? “We find that the most effective deterrent is to get something physical that can be seen from outside the car, ” explains Ferguson, “like one of those bars that locks onto the steering wheel. “

The Northeast officers have also helped organize area apartment managers into associations that meet monthly to compare notes on crime and problem tenants. Auto theft is a continuing problem in the apartment parking lots, and a group has helped to expose and shut down a few crack houses in individual units.

“We know that 80 percent of the crimes are, directly or indirectly, related to narcotics, ” says Taylor, “and what I am slowly seeing is that they are becoming more and more violent. Even out here, it used to be unheard of to have robberies of individuals. “

Such robberies are still not incredibly common, but the most active areas for assaults are between Melody Lane and Park Lane, and at night along Greenville Avenue. “And there’s a 50-50 chance, ” adds Taylor, “that the assailant lives in the area. “

Business and residential crime watch groups in the two neighborhoods have proven extremely helpful. “They’re realizing it’s everyone’s responsibility, ” says Ferguson, “and they’re really pro-police; they back us and support us. “

The cops invite local teenagers to play volleyball with them at the station, fostering good will. “Ours is a unique division, ” Ferguson says. “There’s a real sharing of responsibility, and in the last four years the people in Northeast have become more interactive. They bring us cookies and sandwiches. They’ve more or less ’adopted’ us. “

CENTRAL

SENIOR CPL. PAT HAYNES HAS A DROLL WIT AND A BIG JOB TO challenge it. A wry computer printout adorns the in/out baskets on her desk: “I Have PMS and a Handgun. “

Haynes’s duties as crime analyst for the Central division include keeping track of crimes involving Dallas’s homeless, most of whom inhabit the downtown area. She counts them, learns their identities, and records their turns both as criminals and victims. In 1990 more than 2, 600 offenses-mostly muggings-were reported by homeless individuals. On the other hand, about 2, 000 arrests were made of suspects whose only address was a downtown soup kitchen or freeway underpass.

Central is the smallest police division, but its turf is wildly diverse and inherently problematic. It encompasses the downtown business district; the party areas of the West End and Deep Ellum; Fair Park and Ross Avenue, including some of Lower Greenville and the surrounding residential streets; and Oak Lawn, the heart of Dallas’s gay community, with its own hopping club scene.

Central division cops are proud of the headway they’ve made by tackling certain crime categories with specific strategies. Burglaries of motor vehicles (known as BMVs) are waning in downtown parking lots since officers began spying with binoculars from building tops. They’ve taken to the streets on walking beats to reduce complaints of thefts and harassment at bus stops. In the West End and Fair Park, cops on horseback can negotiate alleyways, peering over back fences and into big dumpsters with much more ease than they could in squad cars. Warm weather will prompt an increase in bicycle patrols.

Crime in the Fair Park area has been overblown by the news media, the officers think. Today, like almost anywhere else, offenses here are mostly vehicle related, with some lingering drug trade. In 1990 a couple of month-long law enforcement sweeps, dubbed “Operation Clean, ” did much to run the drug traffic out, and the homeowners’ crime watch groups have grown loud and vigilant.

“People are slowly taking back that area, ” says Haynes, “and I think they’re going to be able to keep it this time. It is a lot nicer, cleaner, and more stable than it was three years ago. “

In East Dallas, police credit Neighborhood Crime Watch and Adopt-A-Block efforts in the Munger Place and Samuell Grand Park neighborhoods with curbing property crimes, and the Dallas Police storefront in Little Asia has become a virtual neighborhood center for Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian refugees.

But in Deep Ellum, the number of businesses and full-time residents has quickly doubled, and so have crime problems. Thieves scale the walls of stores to dismantle rooftop air conditioners and sell the coils as scrap aluminum; calculators, computers, and typewriters disappear from offices after hours.

“The owners would cry if they knew how little the burglars get on the dollar for this stuff, compared to what it costs them to replace it, ” adds Senior Cpl. Dick Millward. Police patrols increase between the hours of 10 p. m. and 3 a. m., when the nightclub scene is at its most volatile in Oak Lawn as well as Deep Ellum.

“We have very active citizen involvement in Oak Lawn, ” says Millward, “but we still have problems with robberies of individuals with weapons or threats of weapons. Property crimes are down, but crimes against persons are up. “

PARK CITIES

ON KLIF-AM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST KEVIN MCCARTHY MAKES frequent humorous references to crime in high-dollar Highland Park. He jokes that the police mascot is a poodle, “Fifi the Crime Dog, ” and he reads newspaper summaries of ridiculously mundane rip-offs with mock alarm.

In fact, the Highland Park police are glad their clean streets are worth joking about. Sure, they answer a lot of minor calls and false alarms. But as Capt. Bobby Richardson puts it, “We’re not a separate entity. Nothing tells criminals, ’You’ve just crossed the line [from Dallas into Highland Park]. ’ So our problems are not much different. “

What may be different is that Highland Park has approached its crime problem in a way that its well-to-do citizens seem to understand best: financially. To encourage donations, crime watch organizers did the voluminous paperwork to earn tax-exempt status. Today, “Scott, ” a $20, 000 educational robot, entertains the school kids courtesy of Neighborhood Crime Watch, and a hot line, updated daily, lists current offenses. The group recommends house inspections by police, which may bring a 5 percent credit on homeowners’ insurance.

How many pass the test on the first try? “Zero, ” says Capt. Richardson. When it comes to safety, it seems there’s always room for improvement, even with a watchdog named Fifi.

“We have a tremendous amount of property crime, ” Richardson explains. “Of course, during Thanksgiving, we have tons of reports of pumpkins stolen from front porches, and at Christmas somebody’s elaborate decorations are always being vandalized. But that’s certainly not all we deal with. “

Overall though, Highland Park has far fewer violent crimes than Dallas. The cops credit their quick response time and the fact that they are able to spend up to 60 percent of their time on patrol instead of responding to alarms or complaints.

Perhaps there is a line of demarcation between the Park Cities and Dallas. Richardson relates the story of a serial rapist whose victims lived near Highland Park. When asked why he never ventured into the higher rent neighborhood, he said he had heard the police were too fast to risk it.



SOUTHEAST

SENIOR CPL. MARSHA LANDRUM spends some of her time lecturing high-school students who are stuck in detention. One young man who got caught wearing a beeper-a sure sign of drug trading-argued with her about his career choice.

“I make more money than you, ” he told her nonchalantly.

“I guess you’d have to, ” she replied, “since your life expectancy is so much shorter than mine. “

It’s all in a day’s work for a community relations officer whose beat includes some of the poorest, most crime-ridden Dallas neighborhoods. The Southeast division is 82 square miles of South Dallas, South Oak Cliff, and Pleasant Grove. But after three years on the job, Landrum is convinced she is making a difference.

“I am constantly extending my hand out in the community, ” she insists, “and hands are now reaching back to me. You only see small images on the news, but I see the big picture, the reality of it, I know it’s not that bad. There are good people in South Dallas, in Pleasant Grove, in Oak Cliff… they’re coming to the realization that if something is go-ine to be done here, it is up to them to do it. “

Law-abiding citizens are so hungry for information and police input that the officers can’t possibly attend all the meetings, picnics, and neighborhood cleanups of the more than 100 crime watch groups. But Landrum knows most of their leaders and hears from some of them regularly by phone. She notes with dismay that in Oak Cliff the crime watchers tend to be active for a couple of months, then slack off until the next rash of burglaries.

Senior Cpl. Joe Philpott has worked the Southeast division for 21 years. As crime analyst, he quickly summarizes the grim statistics. “In South Dallas, it’s violent crime all the way, outnumbering property crimes. There are so many drug locations that they commit crimes to get fast cash and trade it quick [for drugs]. It’s easier, more convenient, to rob an individual than to burglarize a house. “

The patterns today are surprisingly predictable. The lion’s share of rapes and assaults occurs in the few blocks surrounding crack houses. Philpott terms them “reported rapes, ” since, as he explains it, if someone fails to pay for drugs or sex, the woman involved in the “transaction” will report it as a rape, giving the police a fictitious name.

In Pleasant Grove, property crime is rampant-burglaries, thefts, and auto thefts. (A burglary involves breaking in, while a theft can be something stolen from a front yard, open garage, unlocked car, etc. ) Unlike South Dallas, drug activity in The Grove is pretty much confined to a few locations, but the heists are almost all drug related.

Gang activity is a concern in the Southeast division, but the officers claim that police are very familiar with the gangs and confident of progress. In officer Landrum’s words, “Dallas is well on its way to doing something about the problem.”

The Dallas Police gang unit has identified about 180 gangs, with membership in each ranging from five to 300. Says gang unit Sgt. Mark Langford, “It isn’t Los Angeles, and when you compare [the two cities] we don’t have near the problems. But that doesn’t mean there’s not an urgency to it. Our goal is to slay a step ahead of them, to avoid having to deal with it as a crisis situation five years from now. “



SOUTHWEST

GANG ACTIVITY IS ALSO PART OF LIFE in the Southwest division, but here, too, the police say it is well in hand.

“I wouldn’t consider any of the high-school gangs in Oak Cliff hard-core, ” says the division’s crime analyst, Senior Cpl. Kevin Powell. “Most of them are followers. There are only a few gang leaders. ” The cops know their identities and whereabouts, crediting the DISD “Safe Communities= Safer Schools” program with an increase in parental involvement at schools.

Southwest includes the northern portion of Oak Cliff, some of South Dallas, and the relatively far-flung residential neighborhood of The Woods, which is closer to Grand Prairie but was annexed by Dallas.

Divisionwide, property crimes are down by as much as 20 percent, but crimes against persons are up. The toughest spot in this 95-mile beat is immediately east of the R. L. Thornton Freeway and south of I-30, where many of the aggravated assaults, burglaries, and auto thefts are drug related. Police closely watch the seedy apartments and motels in the area for drugs and prostitutes, but they complain that citizen crime watch involvement is minimal. Drug trade is a persistent headache in the Fawn Ridge area, also full of run-down apartments,

On nearby Jefferson Boulevard it’s a different story. Small merchants have organized to clean up and revamp the once-bustling “Main Street” of Oak Cliff, and a police storefront there is a welcome part of the effort, with officers on regular walking patrols.

In the North Oak Cliff neighborhoods of Kessler Park, Stevens Park, and Winnetka Heights, violent crime is seldom seen, but residential burglaries and car thefts are everyday occurrences. Community Relations Officer Grant Richardson says the pattern is frustrating because “realistically, there’s not much we can do to control violent crimes. But there’s almost always something that could have been done to prevent a burglary. “

Since Oak Cliff is a dry area, police also contend with a smattering of small private clubs that have sprung up, catering primarily to a blue-collar, Hispanic clientele. On weekends, the crowds spill into the parking lots, where fights erupt and neighbors complain about the noise, litter, loitering, and parking problems.

Another interesting note is that Oak Cliff cops seem to be arresting more shoplifters. Shoplifting is considered part of the “theft” category, and weary merchants have become less likely to tolerate it.

NORTHWEST

THE NORTHWEST POLICE STATION IS located at the north end of Dallas Love Field. Homes in the 89 surrounding square miles range from the West Dallas projects to $5 million mansions; businesses include everything from strip joints along Northwest Highway to the high-rise office complexes of the Stemmons corridor. The good news for all of them is that, generally, burglaries are down in their area.

“It’s unreal,” says Senior Cpl. Homer Lee Davis, who attends two or three citizen crime watch meetings a week. “I tell them it’s not our organization, it’s theirs, and now the people believe they have to do more themselves. Just that little added extra effort has paid off. We’re getting more information from them.”

Apartment managers have regular powwows with each other and with police. Meetings of the Love Field Improvement League, the small merchants of the Maple Avenue Economic Development Corporation, and the Stemmons Corridor Business Association are all regular stops on Davis’s tour of duty.

Senior Cpl. Wade Small, who serves as crime analyst, notes drug deals and violent crimes have increased along Webb Chapel Extension as large apartment complexes in the area have been neglected by their owners. A few have been boarded up, but vagrants and junkies will continue to populate them until they are finally torn down.

“I am seeing more and more assault cases in which the suspect is known to the victim, ” Small claims. That’s often the case in a drug deal gone sour. Dealers are also entrenched in the West Dallas housing projects off Singleton Boulevard, and in the projects off Maple Avenue near Cedar Springs. Prostitution is big business along Harry Hines Boulevard, where Small says the beat cops are angry and frustrated.

“Wfe give them tickets and fines, then issue warrants for their arrests for the unpaid fines, ” he explains, “but they go to court and the judge fines them 200 bucks and dismisses half of the offenses. The girls know the system. They pay the money, and they’re back on the streets. “

Northwest crime figures reflect more drugs, assaults, and individual robberies where the hookers ply their trade. “If they’re having a bad night, ” says Small, “they just steal a guy’s wallet or pull a knife on him. “

Another problem area has been “Restaurant Row” at Walnut Hill and Stemmons, where the combination of big parking lots, few nosy neighbors, and easy freeway access makes it a natural for auto theft. Some of the eateries now post security guards to help curb the epidemic.



NORTH CENTRAL

PROPERTY CRIMES IN THE DAY, VEHICLE thefts at night, That pretty much sums up life in the far northern reaches of Dallas, where there are very few violent crimes and the 40 to 50 suspects arrested each month are more likely to pack hubcaps than handguns. The North Central division begins near Northwest Highway, stretching north to the Richardson border, east to Central Expressway, and west to Webb Chapel. Persistent problem areas include weekend cruising along Forest, where some cruisers are troublesome high-school gang members. The most likely spots to produce violent offenses are the Kit Lane-Maham Road area, just east of Central and north of LBJ Freeway, and the Meadow and Central area, with their low-rent apartments and highly mobile tenants. But a growing crime watch group is active there, and the units are slowly being renovated and upgraded.

Mice say drug traffic has been restricted to a few nightclubs and private, individual deals, but the majority of burglaries are drug related. Many of the burglars they catch admit to dozens of offenses.

“Once in awhile, though, ” says crime analyst and Senior Cpl. Mike Dikovitsky, “we’ll see a house completely cleaned out-furniture and everything. We find that it’s usually illegal aliens who come up from Mexico, work for a while, and ship a whole houseful of goods back with them. “

While auto theft has declined in the North Central division, that’s no cause for celebration. According to Sgt. Gary D. Brown, fewer than half of the vehicles are recovered, and police are convinced that most are being “chopped, ” or dismantled, for parts. The highest car theft area is in the high-density condos of Stone Canyon near Meadow Road and Central Expressway; top targets seem to be Corvettes, Z-28s, and, of course, any General Motors model.

Senior Cpl. Steve Ledbetter reports that “Operation HEAT” (Help End Auto Theft) has been the best thing to happen to his division. The free auto registration program is open to anyone who drives in Dallas, even non-residents. A yellow and red “Operation HEAT” sticker on the car indicates that it is not typically on the streets between 1 and 5 a. m. The cops estimate that a car is 70 percent less likely to be broken into or stolen if it is registered in the program.

“In fact, we’ve seen rows of cars vandalized in parking lots, ” Ledbetter says, “but the ones with the stickers are left alone. The car thieves figure it’s an extra hassle. “

At first glance, the numbers of offenses at the malls-Valley View, Prestonwood, and the Galleria-look high, but they are mostly shoplifting arrests. Credit card fraud is also prevalent. Locked, clustered mailboxes at apartments and condos are routinely ransacked, as thieves look for credit cards or checks. As Brown surmises, “Why steal a TV and have to carry it around when you can go right to the store and buy a new one?”

The North Central division may seem quiet when compared to other areas of the city, but the cops have seen their share of citizen fear and frustration. It was here that, between October 1989 and January 1990, a child molester preyed on grade-school girls, leaving parents throughout the city in a panic. More than a year later, the case is still open and active.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF



The good news, according to Dallas Police Sgt. Guadaiupe Fernandez, is that there’s plenty we can do in order to avoid being victimized. According to police, crime prevention is mostly a matter of using common sense, avoiding risks, and ’’thinking like a criminal. ” Herewith, their advice:

1. Be aware of your surroundings. If a door appears to have been tampered with or if a window is shattered, do not enter, even if you aren’t alone.

2. Always travel in pairs. If you’re female, having a male in tow is not necessarily a crime deterrent, says Fernandez. But it is important to have an escape plan. “You’ve got to try to remember to do what you do best-scream, kick, whatever-in order to survive an attack, ” Fernandez says.

3. Know your neighbors-where they work, how to contact them, what their schedules are. The best protection comes when neighbors look after each other’s homes. Take note of unusual people and cars.

4. Call 911. These three digits are your link to the police, and you don’t have to be at gunpoint to use then. If there’s an unfamiliar van in your neighborhood or a stranger at your front door who won’t go away, no matter how trivial it may seem to you, the police still want to know. Remember, while you’re sitting around not wanting to be a nuisance to an overworked police force, they’re sitting around wondering why more citizens aren’t calling in.

5. Know how your neighborhood stacks. up in terms of safety. Is it a magnet to car thieves, an area of town plagued by weekly home break-ins? Detailed monthly neighborhood reports, some of which are even broken down block by block, are available if the neighborhood has a Neighborhood Crime Watch program in effect.

6. Invest In solid doors, strong locks, and outdoor lighting. Statistics show that 80 percent of burglars enter through doors. Replace hollow doors with solid wood or steel doors at least one inch thick. While you’re at it, replace glass windowpanes with unbreakable polycarbonate or acrylic glass substitutes.

And don’t skimp on the locks. According to Fernandez, burglars usually break in through the back door. If that door can “endure 60 seconds of punishment” without giving way, chances are the burglar will decide to move on.

Also make sure doors and low-level windows are well lit from the outside. Mount floodlights as high as possible so that burglars cannot reach them to unscrew the bulbs.

7. Mark your property with Microdots. Only one Microdot is needed per item, and the dots should be placed on anything of value. If Microdots are discovered (most metropolitan police forces statewide, including those in Dallas and Fort Worth, have the technology to make the matchup), the police call Identico, the maker of Microdots, for the owner ID.

The cost is $25 for the residential kit, which includes 39 Microdots. For more information, call Identico at 987-4408. -Lucie Nelka

Related Articles

Image
Arts & Entertainment

Here’s Who Is Coming to Dallas This Weekend: March 28-31

It's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Pencil in some live music in between those egg hunts and brunches.
Image
Arts & Entertainment

Arlington Museum of Art Debuts Two Must-See Nature-Inspired Additions

The chill of the Arctic Circle and a futuristic digital archive mark the grand opening of the Arlington Museum of Art’s new location.
By Brett Grega
Image
Arts & Entertainment

An Award-Winning SXSW Short Gave a Dallas Filmmaker an Outlet for Her Grief

Sara Nimeh balances humor and poignancy in a coming-of-age drama inspired by her childhood memories.
By Todd Jorgenson
Advertisement