The Dallas Police Department’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan has been underway since 2021 and seen significant year-over-year progress in reducing violent crime in Dallas and enhancing public safety through intelligent, data-driven efforts. Since its inception, a core component of the plan was data analysis and review by criminologists and researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Beginning in Fall 2026, DPD is bringing that crucial partnership back to Dallas by partnering with the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT-D) and the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).
This new collaborative program will see UTD leading data analysis efforts of crime hotspots and providing recommendations to Command Staff and City leadership. UTD will continue to utilize a grid system, where the entire City is broken up into roughly 330-square-foot zones to allow for detailed review and tracking of hot spot locations.
As UTD’s work continues they will transition their findings to UNT-D to be developed into custom, DPD-specific training for both sworn and professional staff. These courses will include training for employees at different stages of their careers (rank and file, front-line supervisors, and each echelon of the command staff) as well as for different job functions.
“Bringing this partnership home to Dallas reflects the strong collaboration between DPD and our community,” said Chief of Police Daniel C. Comeaux. “Our Violent Crime Reduction Plan has made incredible progress through identifying the limited number of locations which experience the most violent crime and implementing new methods for preventing crime. UTD is going to be a key strategic partner in continuing to drive down violent crime, enhance public safety, and make Dallas the safest big city. We have a great relationship with UNT Dallas in the development of the new Law Enforcement Training Center, and I’m looking forward to seeing our team members receiving training based off UTD’s thorough research.”
The new partnership is expected to begin in Fall 2026.