Dallas Sees Historic, Homicide-Free 23 Days

Dallas police say the city's number of homicides is making history this summer -- but not in a bad way.

Dallas has not seen a homicide in its city limits since Aug. 16 -- 23 days ago. Homicide detectives said they believe it's the longest the city has gone without a homicide in many decades.

"And having talked to people in our unit that have been there more than 40 years; they also cannot recall a time when we've gone 23 straight days -- in particular counting summer, being August leading here into September -- without a homicide," Lt. Craig Miller said.

But overall, homicides in the city are up slightly compared to this last year, so police said they do not know what's behind the current 23-day stretch.

"We know we've people who have been shot over the course of the last 23 days -- and some of them multiple times -- but they're living today because (of) the efforts of those firefighters and the paramedics," Miller said.

Dallas police also credit new narcotics programs and having more officers on the streets.

Homicide detectives are now adjusting to spending more time in the office, where they are finding plenty to keep them busy.

"It gives them a chance to kind of take a step back and look at some cases that they haven't had a chance to look at maybe as often as they would like to have," Miller said.

Police said they have been able to clear several cold cases in the past month and have also solved all seven homicides that occurred during August.

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