The Dallas Morning News: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson touts safety success at summer celebration

Rylee Wilson, The Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson hopes that Saturday’s celebration at UNT Dallas becomes an annual tradition.

Families, city staff and Dallas police officers gathered at the university’s South Dallas campus for the culmination of the mayor’s Summer of Safety program, which provides free and low-cost programs for youth to keep them engaged when school’s out.

This summer, about 200,000 people visited the city’s pools, according to numbers provided by the mayor’s office. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department gave out about 6,000 teen all-access passes, which grant teenagers free admission to Dallas cultural attractions.

Johnson touted the program’s success during the celebration, as violent-crime rates have been lower in the city this summer, the time of year when crime rates typically spike.

The mayor said he thinks other cities will start to notice the success of Dallas’ approach to reducing crime.

“A lot of people have taken the approach to either throw more money at your police department, or you’re going to be doing things in the community,” Johnson told The Dallas Morning News. “We said those two things should be happening simultaneously.”

The latest Dallas police data shows that violent crime through Aug. 22 is down 2.9% from the same period last August. Overall, violent crime is about 4.4% lower in 2022 than it was this time last year.

The city approved funding for 250 additional police officers last fall. The next proposed budget also provides a boost for the police and fire departments, and for parks and recreation and libraries.

Police Chief Eddie García spoke highly of the support the police department receives from the city. Violence fell by about 9% during his first year on the job.

“Nothing happens by accident. Here in Dallas, we have a plan to reduce violent crime. We have a plan to engage with our community,” García said.

The celebration featured a battle of high school drum lines — won by Skyline High School — cheerleaders, music performances and plenty of free food.

Between performances, community leaders took the microphone to speak on public safety.

State Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, told the crowd he will continue efforts to ban people under 21 from buying assault weapons when the Legislature convenes in August.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m Second Amendment all the way, but we have got to make certain that we have reasonable regulations on the use of these weapons,” Royce said.

Johnson said he hopes the mayors that follow him in office will continue to hold the event, which he called a celebration of the community’s success in keeping crime low.

“Do I think that violent crime will go down every single year in the summer? I hope it does,” he said. “But even if we can just keep it from spiking like it normally does in most cities, that would be a success.”

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