A new report to be presented to Dallas City Council Members Tuesday shows a continued reduction in overall violent crime.
One of the police programs that helped achieve those results is expanding to a troubled South Dallas apartment complex, where residents Monday said they welcome the extra attention.
“They need to build a police station on the inside of here,” tenant Dana Branch said.
The security gates were wide open at the Rosemont at Meadow Lane apartments Monday on Meadow Street at Elsie Faye Heggins Street.
Tenants willing to be interviewed said there is a steady stream of trouble past those gates.
Branch said young people run through the complex, tearing things up and scratching residents’ cars.
“I don’t even let my daughter come outside and play. She can’t come out and play. She can’t play with none of these kids,” Branch said.
Another tenant who asked that her name not be withheld recalled a neighbor murdered at the complex two years ago.
She said the problems have gotten worse.
“There’s mice. There’s roaches. There’s stray dogs that just run around. There’s crime, kids breaking into people’s apartments, cars being taken,” she said.
License plate reading cameras posted outside the complex may help detect stolen vehicles that have also been dumped at the complex, according to tenants and police.
Now, the police program expanding to that complex is called Place Network Investigations for PNI.
As a designated PNI location, expanded attention to code enforcement, trash, lighting, and other things that make a place more appealing to violence will also be addressed along with crime.
“It smells bad out here. It’s constantly dirty. I’m sick of it,” Branch said.
Chief Eddie Garcia has said in the past that police will not be able to arrest their way out of crime, and attention to these other issues will be necessary for lasting crime reduction.
In the report to be presented to the Dallas City Council Public Safety Committee Tuesday, overall violent crime is down 11.77% in 2023 through September 30th compared with last year. Aggravated Assault is down 16.36%, but an exception is murder, up about 10%, with 18 more killings in that period.
The tenants at Rosemont at Meadow Lane said they are impatient for crime reduction results at their location.
“I don’t like my kids to play outside because a lot of kids out here, cussing, bad influences, just a lot of negative things,” one tenant said. “I’m looking for a new place right now. I can’t do it no more. It’s getting worse and worse and worse.”
Other tenants who declined to speak on the record supported the decision by police to expand the PNI program at the complex.
On-site management at the complex declined to comment and directed NBC 5 to national ownership contact email and phone information. Voice mail and email messages were not returned on Monday.