Update: Dallas Police Department and City of Dallas reported on social media that two suspects have been arrested in the July 13 purse snatching. “The North Central Patrol Division of the Dallas Police Department have been deploying resources to prevent and apprehend any activity of this nature in the area,” according to a notice.  

Robberies are back in Preston Hollow this week.

We had some down time since the early spring crime spree, but Thursday (July 13) afternoon in the Preston-Forest Whole Foods parking lot a thief snatched a purse right out of a woman’s hands before speeding off in a getaway vehicle driven by a second perpetrator.

One neighbor from Brookshire Park was at the scene while police were questioning the victim. The neighbor, who gave permission to share contents of a Nextdoor post meant to alert area shoppers, says the victim was with her child and their car was parked close to the store entrance. The police report showed the victim was sitting in the car when the handbag was snatched.

Police reportedly later arrested two men suspected in that crime.

Similar incidents also were reported on July 2.

In May we covered a string of muggings, burglaries and purse snatchings at Preston Forest and Preston Royal.

This happens far too often for neighbors’ comfort. On social media they complain that crime in our neighborhood is out of control, terrible and getting worse by the day.

That said, shop owners who have been in the area since the 1990s told us they cannot say things are either better or worse in 2023.

And crime statistics do not indicate markedly higher rates of crimes against persons or property in the area compared to previous years.

Many are not convinced or appeased by stats. And numbers especially do not mean much when you are the victim, as a man who was held with his daughter at gunpoint told us last spring.

Around that time, police managed several arrests following a surveillance operation, Deputy Chief Rick Watson of the Northwest Patrol Division said.

Northwest Police found one purse snatcher was scouting out the Preston Royal parking lots waiting for shoppers to leave a purse unattended, Watson says. When the victim turned to unlock the car or load groceries, the perp would strike.

After a gunman followed a man and his daughter home from Tom Thumb to rob them in their driveway, North Central officers set up in the Tom Thumb parking lot. They determined perpetrators were watching people come and go and targeting individuals to follow and rob.

Suspects are often apprehended in Preston Hollow crimes, but they tend to get out on bail in a short time and, even if they go to prison, there is always another criminal to replace them.

In the 10+ years I’ve worked at the Advocate, shopping centers at Forest-Preston and Royal-Preston have been hotspots for this type of crime. One neighborhood crime watch chair told me she started to grocery shop in Plano rather than Dallas years ago. Crime typically spikes around the holidays and in warm weather, police have said.

“If you’re going to a restaurant or to a shopping center, just be very mindful, take a look around, and if you see a person or situation that you don’t feel comfortable about, then by all means, call 911 to report it,” Watson says. 

Shop owner Kory Helfman of Ken’s Man’s Shop in Preston Royal tells all his clients they can reduce their risk by removing all valuables from sight. “These drivers will pull up next to or behind you and literally smash your window and grab what they see, then get back in and drive away,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “If there is nothing to see, then there is nothing to take.”

“A purse, shopping bags, iPad — even if only for a couple of minutes while you run into one of the shops — is enough time for the smash-the-window-and-grab scenario to play out,” he told the Advocate in May. “We don’t wish to scare people away from Preston Royal Village. We just want people to be aware and diligent.”

North Central’s Maj. Mark Harris reminded citizens, “If you think you are being followed, do not go home, and drive to a police or fire station.”