Q. I am a stay-at-home mom who is always playing outside with my 2-year-old son. Our driveway is gated, and our yard is fenced in, but our alley gets a lot of use. My question is, is my home a target for thieves because they know I am there, probably alone or a deterrent because I am home? What are some precautions I can take?
You being home during the day, and visible, will make your home a less attractive target for burglars and thieves. They typically target homes that are unoccupied. You should still remain alert for suspicious persons or cars in your neighborhood. If you spot suspicious persons or cars, write down their license plate numbers or physical descriptions and call the police. We will come out and determine if they have a legitimate reason for being in the area. By doing this, you are not only protecting yourself, but your neighbors as well. During times when you are outside with your son, take a portable telephone with you in the event you need the police quickly and be sure to lock your homes’ exterior doors. You do not want thieves to enter your home by the front door while you are out back.
Q. Why doesn’t the DPD do more to control the excessive speeding and tailgating? All the major thoroughfares of Dallas are filled with speeders and tailgaters.
The demand for police services in Dallas is straining our limited resources. We have officers assigned to the traffic units of each of the three patrol bureaus that focus entirely on traffic enforcement. They target multiple accident locations as well as locations reported by citizens for enforcement. In addition to the freeways, the secondary streets and school zones require a lot of attention in order to keep our children safe as they make their way to and from school. Our beat officers take enforcement action on violations they observe when they are not responding to calls for service. There are many times that officers observe traffic violations as they are responding to calls for service, but unless it is a very aggravated case, they cannot delay their response to take enforcement action. Depending on the type of call, any delay could result in serious injury to the caller asking for assistance.
The Department is recruiting and trying to hire additional police officers to help remedy our shortage of staff, but until we have more officers to deploy, we will have to make the most efficient use of the staff that we have. I assure you our goal is to make Dallas a safe place to live and work.
