Targeting Crime (Stats)

​This morning the city council's Public Safety Committee will take a longer, harder look at the 2009 crime stats. At most meetings, they're just tallied up and dropped into the chart you see up above. But this morning council members will be briefed on the rise and fall of crimes committed within the specific 26 Target Area Action Grids into which the Dallas Police Department has divvied up the city. Most hot spots have seen significant drops in violent crimes; some -- including the Ross/Bennett area in the Central Division, the Jefferson Corridor and Kiest/Polk in the Southwest Division and Cedar Springs/Wycliff in the Northwest -- saw slight upticks.

Speaking of crime stats, Chief David Kunkle will pay City Hall a visit to brief the committee on crime stats -- specifically, DPD's reporting procedures, which fewer and fewer appear to trust. Says the briefing, which offers myriad explanations for the drop in crime, "Variations in methodology while impacting specific numbers, do not change the message or trends reflecting significant decreases of crime in Dallas."

Oh, and speaking of crime, if your bike is stolen, let Jason Roberts and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff know. And speaking of Jason Roberts, the Happy Bullets' Hydropanic at the Natatorium is out in April.