Dallas Police to Increase Security for Pride Week Events

The Oak Lawn community in Dallas is gearing up for Pride Week, as events kick off next Tuesday.

Dallas police are also gearing up. Commanders have been busy in recent days planning for extra staffing and security ahead of the Pride Week events and the Sept. 18 parade.

After several months of violent assaults in that area – several of which Dallas police are officially investigating as hate crimes – police say new strategies in recent months have helped keep criminals away.

There are about eight extra officers every night who have been assigned to patrolling the Oak Lawn-Cedar Springs area. Police say it's not only kept crime down, but it's also improved community relations.

"I do feel a lot more police presence around," said Oak Lawn resident Alex Gorinsky. "They've definitely stepped up their patrols."

Over the last nine months police have installed several high-definition surveillance cameras, and officers have stepped up their visibility through increased bike patrols and foot patrols.

DPD this summer also devoted thousands of hours on overtime for increased patrols. Gorinsky says it's a good use of overtime money.

"I think any place in town where you've had a lot of crime, I think overtime patrol time is necessary," he said. "And it definitely seems to be working. It feels safer. We haven't heard of as many attacks."

Crime statistics show it's paying off. In the busiest six-block stretch of Cedar Springs Road, there were eight assaults and four robberies in the summer of 2015.

In the same stretch of real estate this summer, there have been five assaults and no robberies.

Still, for the roughly two dozen men who over the last year were attacked, robbed and threatened, their sense of security has been permanently shattered.

"I still go to therapy twice a week. I'm on medicines for anxiety and sleeping," said Craig Knapp, an assault survivor.

"Remember, they still have not caught anybody. So I'd rather just stay at home and watch TV, and have a drink at my house," he said.

Knapp was attacked earlier this year by two men while he was out walking a friend's dog late at night.

He's now telling his friends to be careful, as the Pride Week events approach.

"They haven't caught them. Where'd they go? What other part of the city will they go to? Are they going to come back?" Knapp asked. "Remember, these attacks on gay men started right after the Pride Parade last year. So it's important that we can't get complacent. We can't assume we're safe walking home alone."

A large chunk of the overtime money DPD has been spending over the last 90 days comes courtesy of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who donated $1 million this summer to Dallas police after the Orlando nightclub attack, and police pledged to use much of that money towards the LGBT community.

A lot of that money is being used to keep extra patrol officers stationed at Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs.