DALLAS — The Dallas Police Department will soon mandate that residents report a slew of low-priority calls online instead of by calling 911 in hopes of freeing more officers for serious crimes.
The requirement, effective July 3, comes as police response times continue to climb, challenging the department as staffing shortages worsen and calls for service increase. Mandatory online reporting aims to reduce the time it takes police to reach high-priority calls, as well as lessen officers’ workloads, Chief Eddie García said Tuesday.
“We have to think about our men and women and the stress that they’re under and the constant calls,” García said during a news conference. “We have to make the working conditions of our men and women better and, at the same time, not sacrifice the service for our community — and I think this achieves that.”
Officers won’t physically respond to an address to take a report for certain calls, including minor accidents with no injuries when the vehicles are operable, motor vehicle burglaries, credit or debit card abuse, harassing calls or texts unrelated to family violence, identity theft, reckless damage, graffiti, burglary of a coin machine, lost property, theft and shoplifting under $2,500.
García said residents should still call 911 for medical emergencies, when they witness a crime in progress or when the suspect is present. He said the investigative process will remain the same no matter how the crime is reported.
Dallas police 911 administrator Robert Uribe said residents who don’t have internet can file a report over the phone, or can use a kiosk at Dallas police substations or access computers at public libraries. Instead of waiting for hours for an officer, people can fill out a report online within about 10-20 minutes, he said.
Previously, people could opt to report crimes online, but the voluntary process didn’t work because many people prefer an officer responding to their door, Uribe said.
Still, that system freed officers for other calls. Last year, calls reported online and over the phone saved the department about 51,000 patrol hours, equal to the work of more than 24 officers, the chief said.
That time can be directed to emergency calls, including top priorities such as violent crimes that require more officers for a longer period of time, García said.
Calls to police are assigned a priority of one to four, with priority ones considered emergencies and priority fours “non-critical.” On average from Jan. 1 to April 30 this year, officers responded to priority ones in about 10 minutes, which is up 6.2% over the same period last year, according to DPD statistics.
Police responded to priority two calls in about 91.89 minutes, which is an increase of 42.4% over the same period in 2022, statistics show. Priority threes were up 53% for an average response time of about 583 minutes, and priority fours were up 30.2%, or an average of about 574 minutes, according to police.
“We know firsthand in an emergency every second counts,” García said. “We want our officers to be available to respond quickly and efficiently to any high priority call.”
In addition, the department needs about 500 more officers, the chief said, adding law enforcement agencies nationwide are in the midst of a staffing crisis. Those challenges have been exacerbated by steep competition from other agencies, an uptick in mental health struggles and negative perceptions about officers, police have said.
Dallas police currently employ 3,023 sworn officers, police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said. About 3,500 to 3,600 officers worked in the department in 2014, but hundreds left during a pension crisis in 2016-17.
Attrition remains a problem. Lowman said 157 officers have left the department this fiscal year. Dallas police recruited 96 officers in that time, with another 23 recruits expected this week, Lowman said.
“We need to grow and we’re trying to grow as quickly as possible,” García said. “Our recruiting unit is working as hard as it can. But certainly, when we look at the staffing numbers where the city is today as opposed when it was a smaller city years ago, those are obvious.”
Police are conducting outreach in English and Spanish to inform residents about the new online reporting requirement, including through social media, instructional videos and informational meetings.
To report crimes online, residents can go to dallaspolice.net. If people call 911 for non-emergency calls required to be reported online, they’ll be instructed how to file a report online, Uribe added.
