North Central police chief Jesse Reyes and the station received a cake from DPD Chief David Brown for a job well done. (Photo from North Central Facebook page)

Looks like our community is among the safest. Crime has dropped 9 percent over last year in the North Central Division, and that’s the biggest decrease of all seven of the city’s substations. Dallas’ overall crime rate has been on the decline for several years.

Compared with 2010, this year in North Central, we had 1,103 residential burglaries, down from 1,256;  202 business burglaries, down from 322; 2,225 car break-ins, down from 2,367; 645 car thefts, down from 771; and 32 sexual assaults, down from 35. We had one less murder than last year (6, down from 7).

The only types of crime that have increased are shoplifting and the category of “other theft” (for instance, when a woman’s purse gets stolen from her shopping cart at the supermarket or when property is taken from someone’s yard or porch). And obviously, police can’t be stationed outside every business in case something happens.

“We don’t have much control over that,” says Lt. Richard Dwyer. “That’s mainly due to stores and their security.”

The North Central police has focused its efforts on two target areas – Maham Road and Spring Valley/Montfort where crime tends to be the highest. On Maham, violent crime is up 5 percent, but the numbers are low with an overall gain of 6 offenses this year. At Spring Valley and Montfort, violent crime is down 11 percent.

I sure wouldn’t be venturing down Maham at night alone. However, even our problem areas are still pretty good by comparison, Dwyer says.

“Our high numbers are low compared with the rest of the city.”

Also, there’s higher density due to the number of apartments in those areas, so crime is generally higher. As for residential neighborhoods, active crime watch teams are making a difference.

“The neighborhood watch groups are doing well as far as helping,” Dwyer says. “People are more aware.”