02/24/05   Guardian Angel Chapter Rejection by Dallas Mayor Laura Miller

To:  City Of Dallas Mayor and City Council   2-22-2005 
Re:  Meetings At Dallas City Hall, 2-22-2005

    Another sad day in Dallas history has transpired as the Mayor of Dallas rejected volunteer efforts offered by Curtis Sliwa, founder of the now "world" famous and accomplished Guardian Angels. 

   Of course, the Angels will set up a Chapter in Dallas with or without the support of the Dallas Mayor, but the rejection of cooperative efforts between the city and the Angels continues to demonstrate just how OFF BASE Dallas is in the efforts to combat serious crime IN THE CITY WITH THE HIGHEST CRIME RATE (per capita) IN THE UNITED STATES DURING 2004. 

  The Angel's rejection by the Mayor continues to propagate a bad  attitude that has created morale problems within the Dallas Police Department.  The Dallas Police Association President has stated that he would like to see the Guardian Angels operating within Dallas.  The Dallas VIP units currently perform a great volunteer service for the city.  However, even the VIP unit members sometimes have stumbling blocks placed in front of their efforts to perform their volunteer services. 

In earlier years, Dallas allowed a police chief to remain in office (way too long) who ultimately had to be relieved of duty by the City Manager.  The previous Chief allowed the Dallas Police Reserve to dwindle from historic numbers of 180 officers to 45.  The previous Chief demoted several very competent assistant police chiefs who have since led other cities (as chiefs) in combating crime in exemplary fashion.  Those released chiefs represented decades of superior training and experience --- all lost for Dallas, in part, due to a very confused City Manager's Office.  Corruption has transpired with fake drug transactions, and MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars have been squandered due to lawsuits against the city that should have been controlled or made non-existent. 

Dallas could use another 1500 or so sworn officers on the streets NOW to combat crime.  Those officers are not readily available. 

Now, the Mayor wishes to reject a few handfuls of volunteer observers who wish to help reduce the runaway Dallas crime statistics.  The Guardian Angels risk their lives for "us", the citizens of Dallas and our visitors. 

Dallas Police do not currently have the patrol staff to cover all the beats satisfactorily --- so WHO IS GOING TO DO THAT?  How many on the City Council will volunteer eight hours per week to walk Dallas most dangerous streets, parking lots, and rail lines?

At the current pace of crime and lack of adequate prevention techniques in place, Dallas could well be on its way to achieving "The Highest Crime Rate (per capita) in The United States for 2005".  Such a sad day for the City.

Regards,

Rad Field
Council District 11 


Dallas Crime Rate Calculations...2004
 (Using FBI UCR Numbers and Dallas Freedom Of Information Records for 2004)

To:  Dallas Mayor and City Council Representatives

Recently, DallasCrime.com calculated the "preliminary" per capita crime rates for the largest cities in the nation with population over one million.  The nine cities are Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego.  The calculations were based on information currently available from the police departments of each city.  The figures will change slightly once the final numbers are checked and posted by the FBI in June, 2005.

For 2004, per capita, Dallas was #1 in total crime, #2 in murder, #3 in rape, #1 in robbery, #3 in assault, #1 in burglary, #2 in larceny/theft and #2 in auto theft. 

For 2003, per capita, Dallas was #1 in total crime, #3 in murder, #2 in rape, #1 in robbery, #3 in assault, #1 in burglary, #2 in larceny/theft and #2 in auto theft.

Dallas maintained its position in all categories except in murder where it moved up from #3 to #2  and in rape where it moved down from #2 to #3.   In total crime per capita, Dallas did not appear to improve relative to the other cities.  Dallas did reduce crime overall in 2004, but overall, crime was down in most cities.  New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles all reported greater reductions than Dallas.  Phoenix and Houston were the only two cities reporting any increase.

In 2004, Dallas won the "SUPER BOWL OF CRIME".  Again, for the SEVENTH YEAR IN A ROW, Dallas has the "distinction" of being the city with the HIGHEST TOTAL CRIMES PER CITIZEN among all major cities with population over one million.

  Above Data from DallasCrime.com
        (Backup data available substantiated from most major U.S. Cities)

Regards,
Rad Field
Council Dist. 11