Known as the Multifamily Expo, the event saw police officers advise property owners as to how they can better prevent or stop crime, while also sharing some details on the new police initiative.
“What we want to do now is really be proactive in the community, and we're going to start with the apartment complexes,” said Sgt. Leroy Quigg, a 30-year veteran with Dallas Police. “We're going to have a high presence in apartment complexes trying to assist you to hopefully decrease some of the crime.”
According to a presentation shared by police with the Dallas Public Safety Committee on March 8, approximately 19% of all violent crime in Dallas in 2021 occurred at apartment complexes. This trend extends to nonviolent crime as well.
The first step of the new initiative, which has yet to receive an official name, will be to identify 5-10 apartment complexes with the highest crime rate in Dallas. Once identified, police will work in tandem with property owners to help educate the multifamily community as well as address any community shortcomings.
“For example, if they need an after-school program, we'll make that happen,” Dallas Police Lt. Paul Thai said. “If they need gang unit intervention, we'll make that happen; if they need community affairs officers or [neighborhood police officers] to step in or help out, we'll do that. Everything is about education; everything is about helping the [property] owners to combat and get rid of crimes.”
Dallas City Council Member Adam McGough spoke briefly at the event as well, calling crimes at multifamily communities “one of the biggest issues we’re hearing across our city.” He also praised police for their proactive initiative to help solve the issue.
Officer Bervin Smith said the next step in the initiative will be to hold a series of monthly meetings with property owners starting sometime in April to help fine-tune the program.
