FCE’s Timothy Bray says Dallas crime not as bad as we think
In this morning's Dallas Morning News Editorial section, Dr. Timothy Bray of the J. McDonald Williams Institute makes the case that crime in Dallas is only bad in certain areas of town. The Williams Institute, headed by Dr. Marcus Martin, is the research arm of the Foundation for Community Empowerment (FCE) which focuses much of it's work in South Dallas. The article is quite interesting, though it doesn't translate to paper as well as Dr. Bray's original presentation of his findings at FCE's Annual Meeting held last October.
See Dr.Timothy Bray's DMN article here .
See our coverage of FCE's annual meeting here .
See Wholeness Index Summary Report here .
See interview with FCE President Marcia Page here .
In his Viewpoints opinion piece Dr. Bray, associate director of the Williams Institute, asserts that the there are only a few concentrated high crime areas in Dallas, with the worst one being north of downtown. According to the Williams Institute's twelve-page Summary Report, the highest crime area is "in the northwest, lying mostly west of I-35E, from TX-356 to I-635." This area has a high concentration of sexually oriented business and three times the crime of the overall city. The second worst area was South Dallas.
He make it a point in the article to differentiate between overall crime, which have given Dallas such a bad reputation, and violent crime. Dr. Bray points out that Dallas has a high rate of property crimes (can anyone say copper theft?) which is three times the rate of L.A. and twice the rate of Chicago. In the article he also states that the Dallas Police Department employs half as many officers per resident as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.
For many people, perception is reality. Dallas will continue to be seen as a high crime area as long as the media focuses the majority of their reports on violent offenses (if it bleeds it leads). Also the shortage of Dallas police officers does nothing to alter the pervading thought. But Dr. Bray and FCE continue to push for a more analytical approach to defining Dallas' crime problem.
