The Dallas Police Department says one way to prevent a surge in summer violence around the city--is to continue focusing heavily in one two-square-mile stretch of the city in North Dallas.
They’ve put hundreds of extra officers in recent months into the Forest Lane-Audelia Road patrol beat off Interstate 635, and the police say the strategy is working.
Police Chief David Brown acknowledged that the crime-fighting strategy may seem "counter-intuitive" ---if murders, shootings, and robberies are up around the city, why devote so much manpower to a geographically-insignificant area?
"Every area of the city is benefiting from the larger deployment in Forest-Audelia. It’s counter-intuitive," Brown said. "You usually have to get to 10 hot-spots, but we don’t have the resources to do that right now."
In explaining the strategy this week to city council members, Brown said Forest-Audelia is the "hornet's nest" of this year's violent crime spike, where the shootings and gang activity is disproportionately getting out of hand.
"Much of the drug trade is about demand. We are seeing increasing drug demand in the Forest-Audelia area, which means drug dealers fighting over turf," Brown said.
Local businesses see the problems first-hand, every day.
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Andy Tran opened up Bo’s Chicken and Seafood along Forest Lane last May.
Tran thought the nearby bus stop and busy foot traffic would be good for his take-out business.
"Everything is fried, fried rice, fried chicken, fried seafood," Tran said, packing up a to-go fried chicken order.
But he's seen a lot of violence through his windows. Usually, it appears to be a drug deal gone bad. Someone ends up stabbed or assaulted; people scatter in all directions. Occasionally, he hears gunshots.
It's bad for business.
"When the bad crime happens around this area, we don’t do much business that day," he said.
This year there have been close to 300 fights, shootings, stabbings or robberies in this small cross-section of north Dallas streets.
"I think I want police to do a little more. They need to do more patrol during the day time, during the busy hours, to help us out," Tran said.
The police department says they have to keep adding resources there. Right now, 200 officers drive these streets daily.
"It just so happens that the crime trends, like a hornet’s nest, go back to Forest Audelia. The gang, drugs, stuff just goes back to the area," Brown said. "So the effectiveness of us being in that area is how we get the greatest success that we’ve seen to reduce crime in other places."
"Criminals don’t have boundaries. They don’t have beats, or divisions or units," he explained.
NBC 5 found one man walking along Audelia Road, with a gun at his hip. He showed NBC 5 his license to carry, and said he got it for personal safety.
"I actually prefer to open carry in this area just because it’s so bad. We’ve lost quite a few people who used to live in the neighborhood," said Carlton Tillman. "I see the police. I know they're out here. But I'm worried especially for the females in my family, when they have to leave their apartments."
The police are organizing more community events, and spending more time walking the apartment complexes and visiting mom-and-pop businesses and storefronts.
They've also posted electronic signs in the area advising people that there is a heavy police presence and the "Violent Crime Task Force" is deployed in the area.
A DPD-organized carnival last week brought out dozens of families.
Some residents say it’s a good start, but it'd be nice if the department could get more officers to live in the community, too.
"If they was to put their officers in the apartments, instead of looking over at them like something’s going to fly away, I think that would be better for us moving forward," said Alexander Jordan, a songwriter and car-detailer. "There are a lot of kids that live here, you know what I'm saying, and having an officer that's in their apartment communities with them is better for the positive message they want to get out."
Andy Tran agrees more can be done, especially responding to 911 calls faster.
"They respond not that quick. It’s a little late. Once they get here, all the people are gone already,' he said.
But Tran said the last few weeks have been pretty quiet, and that's good for business.
Police say violence is down 13 percent from this time last year, thanks in large part to various task forces - Narcotics, Violent Crime and Domestic Violence Warrants - that are embedded in the area during the day.
The chief is worried about a summer crime spike, though, over the next few months. He said he's prepared to move officers around even more if it's necessary for public safety.
