DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Dallas police held a community meeting with residents and business owners in Deep Ellum Tuesday night. Community leaders say they are concerned about a spike in crime, loitering and curfew violations.
As Deep Ellum has become more popular, crime in the area has increased. City Councilman Adam Medrano held a town hall meeting about how to make the neighborhood safer in June, but earlier in July, police responded to three cases where people say they were offered marijuana, passed out and woke up to find they had been robbed.
Dallas police say they are stationing 20 to 30 officers in Deep Ellum on Friday and Saturday nights.
"We have to be sensitive to everybody's needs. Everybody wants the police on every corner, and we realize that," says Deputy Chief Thomas Castro, who met with community leaders in Deep Ellum Tuesday evening. "But we have to be really exact on where we put our resources."
Dallas police say they have a shortage of officers, but this summer's class of cadets is the department's largest since 1991.
The Deep Ellum Foundation manages the public improvement district. Phillip Honore is the foundation's public safety manager.
"We will do everything we can to do more with less," he says. "We also do that with our public safety program. We understand what's happening as far as recruiting on the police department. They're trying to do the best they can."
