6 September 21 - 27, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents occurs in and around older apartment com- plexes, Smith said. Because of this, the report suggests a comprehensive citywide strategy to address conditions at older apart- ment complexes that may give rise to violent crime. Approaches could include zoning changes, code compliance, recreation and other investments or incentives that could help reduce violent crime. “In a way, I wish that we could roll the clock back 50 years and think about how we might imagine apartment complexes being constructed,” Smith said. City Council member Cara Mendelsohn suggested an ordinance that would require apartment complexes over a certain age that have experienced certain levels of crime to take steps like installing fencing, cameras or extra lighting. Smith said this is the kind of thing he would recommend the city look into. DPD’s hot spot policing has seen the most success, with some of the biggest re- ductions in violent crime and arrests. Vio- lent crime in the city’s hot spots decreased by more than 30% when compared to aver- ages from years prior. This hot spot policing strategy even had effects on neighboring ar- eas, with some surrounding areas experi- encing a violent crime decrease of 9%. Arrests in the city are also decreasing. City- wide, and in treated hot spot areas, arrests fell by 14% and 11%, respectively. Arrests for violent crime, citywide, saw a smaller de- crease of 4%. But these arrests increased in hot spots by 25%. Gun arrests also saw sub- stantial increases of 28% citywide and 55% in DPD’s hot spots. In the spring of 2022, DPD put together what is called a place network investiga- tions (PNI) team to investigate high-crime areas in the city. The department looked at the team’s work in three of the city’s PNI locations: 3550 E. Overton Road in south- ern Dallas, and 11760 Ferguson Road and 11511 Ferguson Road in northeast Dallas. At the Overton Road site, there was some evi- dence that numbers of violent crime, vio- lence victims and calls for service were lower when compared to months before the place network investigations team started its work. While the place network investigations team has shown some success at reducing violent crime, the report said that imple- mentation has been hampered by a lack of coordination across city departments, and it heavily relied on traditional policing as opposed to multidisciplinary solutions as originally intended. If Dallas wants to see more success out of its place network in- vestigations team, there will need to be more coordination across city depart- ments. The report suggested the need for a sys- temwide effort to address the revolving door of arrest, release on bail/bond and re-arrest, particularly among an increasingly youthful population of violent offenders. Other major cities are also seeing reduc- tions in violent crime, and even in murders. In Fort Worth, for example, murder and manslaughter was down by about 32% in the first quarter of the year when compared with the same period last year. Aggravated assaults also fell by 2.5%, according to a crime report by the Fort Worth Police De- partment. Fort Worth attributed its success to a program called FortWorthSafe. As part of the program, the city’s police department uses neighborhood cameras and works with other city departments to remove blight and increase the quality of life in high-crime neighborhoods. In Houston, overall violent crime was down by about 8% and murders decreased by about 22%. The Houston Police Depart- ment attributed the reductions to an initia- tive called Safe Houston. The initiative, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, saw increased officer street presence and a focus on the city’s high-crime areas. Despite the challenges Dallas faces, Men- delsohn said she is happy with the depart- ment and the results of its violent crime reduction plan. “I am very proud of the efforts of our offi- cers and command staff in implementing the violent crime plan,” Mendelsohn told the Observer. “They have had remarkable results, especially considering the decreas- ing number of officers, national trends for urban areas, and challenges described in the [UTSA] 2-year report.” ▼ CONSUMER SAFETY GUESS WHO’S BACK SCAMMERS ARE GOING AFTER DALLAS WATER UTILITIES CUSTOMERS. AGAIN. BY SIMONE CARTER P icture this: It’s 100 degrees outside and you get a call from someone about your Dallas Water Utilities ac- count. They tell you that your service is be- ing disconnected and demand that you settle up, so you fork over the money to keep your water flowing. There’s just one big problem. It’s a scam. DWU is letting residents know that scam callers and texters are running a grift, remi- niscent of ones that were carried out on pre- vious occasions last year. One year ago, the Observer reported that fraudsters were contacting DWU customers in English and Spanish from a number that looked to be associated with the depart- ment. A similar set of scam messages had also unfolded two months earlier, in July 2022. Victims of the current scam may see their caller ID shows the number 214-651- 1441, which is DWU’s main customer ser- vice line. But don’t be tricked into handing over any money. The department doesn’t text or call customers prior to disconnec- tion; instead, such notices are sent via snail mail. “As a security measure and to protect the customer’s personal financial data, DWU does not take payments over the phone with a live person,” states a post on the city’s web- site. “Payments processed over the phone are made through the Interactive Voice Re- sponse system.” Anyone who thinks they may have been contacted by a scammer and who’s worried about the status of their account can call 214-651-1441 to speak with a member of DWU staff. Customers can also review their accounts through the automated voice system. Brian Martinez, a spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department, told the Observer late last week that DPD has received several complaints tied to the scam so far this year. “We wish we had zero,” he said. “We want to let [the public] know so that the number doesn’t grow.” This year the calls started earlier in the summer, Martinez said, noting that they typically kick off in the warmer months when water use is higher. The scam might be more believable during the summer sea- son because it’s often when legitimate em- ployees request that residents try to conserve water. Martinez said there’s an ongoing investi- gation into the scam, which is unfolding in other cities, too. In an apparently separate case in May, officials in Fort Worth notified resi- dents that some scammers were pre- tending to be water utility workers, ac- cording to WFAA. One elderly resident was robbed by suspects who allegedly claimed that they had struck a main line, thereby contaminating the home’s water. The scammers then asked for access to the person’s house under the pretense that they needed to conduct tests. Still, the latest round of Dallas scammers doesn’t appear to be targeting one particular demographic, Martinez said. “It’s across the board, you know: They’re hitting everybody when it comes to calling,” he said. “It’s not like they’re looking at cer- tain age groups and saying, ‘Let’s call these [people].’ They just get someone to bite.” If the wrongdoer is able to connect with a customer who is late on their bill, then a call threatening disconnection may inspire a re- action. Martinez also mentioned other common scams, including when people get a text message saying that there’s a package wait- ing for them or that they’ve won some type of reward. Certain fraudsters may even ask victims for their Social Security numbers. Martinez advises folks who think they could be on the line with a scammer to sim- ply hang up. You can always look up the cor- rect phone number and call to ask whether the department or company in question has actually been trying to contact you. In other water news, the state of Texas has extended its deadline for low-income renters and homeowners who need finan- cial assistance to pay their water bills. The Texas Utility Help program had ini- tially planned to stop accepting applications at the close of this month, but people can now sign up through the end of December. Go to texasutilityhelp.com to apply or dial 855-566-2057. If you’re a DWU customer, be sure to call DWU’s customer service to let them know. “Customers are also encouraged to call to set up a payment plan to avoid late fees and water disconnection,” the city’s website states. “Staff is available to assist DWU cus- tomers with developing a payment plan that fits their budget. DWU’s goal is to help cus- tomers to maintain this essential service during this period of hot temperatures and low precipitation.” ▼ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHATBIGD HERE ARE DALLAS’ TOP 5 ISSUES, ACCORDING TO CHATGP. BY SIMONE CARTER C hatGPT, the revolutionary chatbot that’s evoking alarm and wonder in near-equal measure, has some inter- esting thoughts about what’s been plaguing Dallas. For those of you who haven’t yet ac- quainted yourselves with the technology, ChatGPT works like so: You ask it a question or feed it directions — like, for example, a prompt from a school assignment — and it’ll respond it faster than you can say “Steve Jobs.” Really. It’s kind of nuts. Since ChatGPT apparently holds the keys to all the knowledge of the interwebs, we wanted to pick its brain about our fair city. Or, more specifically, we decided to Bluewater Sweden on Unsplash The Dallas Police Department is warning residents of an ongoing scam. THE SCAM MIGHT BE MORE BELIEVABLE DURING THE SUMMER SEASON. Unfair Park from p4 >> p8
