North Texas is Reaping the Rewards of Population Growth More than Just Economically!
Surprisingly, the spate of population in the suburbs of Northern Texas has created an effect that is in stark contrast to typical urbanization trends. While there was an increase in the rates of major crime all across Dallas, the overall incident figures were held in check by the population growth, which is in itself a paradox of sorts.
An analysis of the incident frequency and crime types revealed that burglaries showed a distinct improvement with figures plunging everywhere. Dallas also saw a marginal improvement in robberies and car thefts. As if to balance this, the number of rapes did go up, but this could be attributed to the broader definition for sexual crimes adopted in 2014 and 2015, says a professor of criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas.
The clear winners!
When it came to specific areas, Frisco reported its lowest criminal activity in eight years. This could be attributed to the 6% jump in population figures seen in 2013, which dulled the crime increase of 3% reported in the same year. Plano, despite being one of the larger suburbs of Dallas, was another example of the inverse correlation between population increase and overall crime rates.
Irving maintained its decade long record of plunging crime figures, while McKinney police and residents had much to celebrate after the dip of nearly 10% in the reported crime rate of 2014. Richardson and Carrollton saw a similar decrease in crime numbers. However, Garland could have performed better. Although crime rates in the area did go down by 56%, the effect of this decrease was dampened by the 30% increase in robberies.