Safety in numbers

3 Dallas suburbs secure rankings among the safest cities in the U.S.

Frisco is the safest city in America, a new study says.

Photo courtesy of Frisco Square

It seems that three Dallas suburbs are wrapped in some sort of security blanket.

A new study from personal finance website SmartAsset ranks Frisco as the safest city in the U.S. (up from No. 2 in last year’s study), with McKinney holding the No. 2 spot (up from No. 3 last year) and Plano sitting at No. 9 (down from No. 5 last year).

To come up with its list, SmartAsset examined data from 200 of the country’s largest cities across five metrics: violent crime, property crime, vehicular death rate, drug-poisoning death rate, and percentage of the population engaging in excessive drinking.

SmartAsset notes that in the study, Frisco has the fifth lowest rate for violent crime (86 crimes reported per 100,000 residents), sixth lowest rate for property crime rate (972 crimes per 100,000 residents), and sixth lowest drug-poisoning death rate (7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents).

An informal poll on Niche.com indicates 98 percent of Frisco’s residents feel “very safe” or “pretty safe.”

“Both violent and property crime [are] considerably low here. The cost of living is just a little higher than the national average, but it’s worth it, considering Frisco is one of the safest places to live,” according to security company ADT.

Nearby McKinney boasts the fourth lowest property crime rate (936 crimes per 100,000 residents), sixth lowest rate for drug-poisoning deaths (7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents) and 18th lowest rate for violent crime (134 crimes per 100,000 residents).

Similar figures weren’t provided for Plano.

Other places in Texas on the list of the safest cities in the country are:

McAllen, No. 6
Laredo, No. 13
Round Rock, No. 14
College Station, No. 15
Brownsville, No. 16 (tie)

Frisco (No. 4) and Plano (No. 5) also are ranked among SmartAsset’s five most affordable safe cities. Housing costs are less than 20 percent of the median annual household income in Frisco, according to the study, and are 20.2 percent of the median household income in Plano.

rankings

Deep Ellum news

Law enforcement to beef up in Deep Ellum following Halloween shootings

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

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Law enforcement will beef up its presence in a Dallas entertainment district where several deadly shootings occurred over the weekend, federal authorities announced Monday, November 2 as they joined elected officials nationwide in decrying gun violence in popular public places.

Across the country, numerous mass shootings on Halloween weekend left at least 10 people dead and dozens more injured. In Dallas, three shootings in Deep Ellum, a neighborhood of music and restaurants, left four people dead and 15 injured over the span of an hour and 15 minutes early Sunday.

“Everyone deserves the freedom to walk down the street, to celebrate a fun night out during our nation’s holidays and to simply exist in public without fear for their safety or their children’s safety,” Ryan Raybould, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Texas, said at a news conference.

Many shootings occurred around gathering spots during the confluence of what might be one of the last spells of warm weather this year that drew large crowds outside on Halloween, which this year happened to fall on a weekend.

As investigators continued to look for suspects and the motives behind the shootings, word spread of even more mass violence over the weekend. Two separate shootings occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, after the annual “Magic City Classic” college football game Saturday night. And police in college towns reported shootings in their nightlife districts where annual Halloween gatherings are popular, including in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Newark, Delaware; Bloomington, Illinois; and Bloomington, Indiana.

'The violence has to end'
Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said police are pursuing leads on possible suspects in the Deep Ellum shootings, which he called “senseless” and the result of arguments. It's undetermined if the shootings were related.

Comeaux and Raybould were joined by others at a news conference to announce “Operation Deep Cover,” a federal and local law enforcement response to gun violence in Deep Ellum.

Raybould said one man who allegedly wore a ski mask and pointed a loaded gun in the direction of a crowd in Deep Ellum was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The entertainment district experienced deadly violence earlier this year. Two people were fatally stabbed outside a nightclub in February, and a security guard was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight inside a nightclub in May. Among nonfatal shootings, five people were wounded outside of a sports bar in May, police said.

“The violence has to end, and it will end,” Raybould said. “I’m tired of reading the news stories.”

Operation Deep Cover
Both uniformed and plain clothes police will cover Deep Ellum, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ says uniformed officers will provide a visible presence to deter violence, while the others blend in with the public but will operate alongside them. Those who would commit crimes will not know when they're being watched or who is watching.

Operation Deep Cover, according to the DOJ will:

Increase resources: Devote more federal, state, and local law enforcement resources to Deep Ellum.
Strengthen coordination: Establish a direct line of communication with DPD for crimes in Deep Ellum, with monthly meetings led by the Chief of Violent Crime.
Prosecute aggressively: Pursue drug and firearm offenses aggressively.
Prioritize federal prosecution: Bring cases federally wherever the facts and law support federal charges.
Review past cases: Review cases from 2024 to the present and charge federal offenses where the evidence supports charges.
Dedicate intake team: Work with Dallas County through an intake team led by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeremy Fugate and Caroline Poore from the Violent Crimes Section to help ensure that no eligible case is overlooked.

Operation Deep Cover will involve FBI, ATF, DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Dallas Police Department.

deep ellum crime