Street shutdowns are underway in Deep Ellum as Dallas police try to curb an uptick in crime in the entertainment district. The street closures come after three deadly shootings there since mid-June.
These street closures are now happening every Friday and Saturday night starting at 10 p.m. The barriers going up are just part of that increased enforcement. Dallas Police Department (DPD) says they will have more officers out here at every intersection, watching even more for suspicious behavior.
“I was surprised that they did it so fast, the city acted so fast, within a week they closed the streets,” Howard Perez, general manager of Angry Dog said.
Just days after Deep Ellum business leaders took their concerns to the city, Perez says Dallas police quietly showed up in greater force last Friday and for the first time shut down the area’s busiest streets at 10 p.m., a tactic Perez hasn’t seen in the area for 20 years.
“It helped cut down on people speeding on the street or doing donuts or whatever they were doing,” Perez said.
Dallas police say the street closures will continue for the foreseeable future on Friday and Saturday nights on Main, Elm, Indiana Streets, as well as Malcolm X Blvd, and Monument Streets.
“What I heard was it was by midnight, the paddy wagon was full,” Perez said.
The Deep Ellum Foundation says also among the increased enforcement measures are police vans that can hold a large number of people taken into custody.
“Law enforcement needs to be like ‘Hey, if you’re drinking in the street, you go to jail,'” Perez said.
The changes come after three recent deadly shootings in the early morning hours, one that led to an officer-involved shooting after a man refused to put down his gun.
“They want to see the police out here; they want to support them in proactive enforcement. When people are not behaving as they should,” Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation, said.
Keller Hudiburg says that with the increased presence, there were no major incidents last weekend.
She says since the foundation launched its community safety plan in 2022, violent crime dropped 20%, a decline that continued until this summer.
“Our businesses really are passionate about what’s happening, our property owners, our musicians, our artists and so people are coming together to say, not here, this is a place where people come together and come to create and come to enjoy,” Keller Hudiburg said.
“It’s going to suck for some of my neighbors, it will, but I think at the end of the road it’s helpful,” Perez said.
Perez is hopeful the enforcement will show results and help get Deep Ellum closer to seeing a continued reduction in crime.
“When you really enforce, it works,” Perez said.
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