Alan Cohen, Director General of the Child Poverty Action Lab, believes that modelling high-risk areas will enable the police and the community to be better informed to stop crime without law enforcement arresting more people, a key objective for his non-profit organization. The Dallas Morning News reported that the data was collected using a high-risk area model, a new type of police forecasting technology. The high-risk area model determines why violent crimes occur repeatedly in specific locations. The introduction of risk and terrain modeling, which includes a partnership with the laboratory, is one of the most blatant deviations from the Dallas Police Department’s past. If you or a family member has been accused of a violent crime in Dallas, please contact our experienced criminal defense team. The Dallas Police Department takes violent crimes seriously, especially considering that homicide charges are the highest in the last decade. Police often respond by increasing patrols in areas where violent crime is most prevalent. The increase in violent crime in Dallas in 2019 seems random. A detailed examination of North Dallas revealed a high level of violence near thrift shops, car washes, and apartment complexes. Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall is building on the data and intensifying existing departmental programs to combat crime in the city. The Child Poverty Action Lab study found that the incidence of violent crime is higher in some areas. The report found that this new approach to crime modeling focuses on places rather than people. In Southeast Dallas, a concentration of motels, gas stations and drugstores has become a major crime center. The report examines other factors in areas with higher concentrations of violent crime. Joel Caplan, one of the Rutgers University researchers behind the modeling of high-risk areas, said it’s a different business than hot spot surveillance. The model only works if police, other agencies and community leaders work together to understand the information and make structural changes in the neighborhoods.