The task force’s crime takedown

The numbers are impressive: 2,510 traffic stops, 314 arrests, 30 stolen vehicles recovered, 31 search warrants executed and 61 illegally possessed guns taken off the streets. That all happened in two months — March and April — according to a Dallas Police Department announcement that attributed the crime fighting to the formation of the Violent Crime Task Force. The task force includes 170 officers from various units of the department — SWAT, narcotics and gang — who have adjusted their schedules and embedded in Dallas’ most dangerous areas, responding to our city’s climbing crime stats. The northeast sector of Dallas had been hit particularly hard; we were seeing multiple murders weekly, even after the Forest-Audelia task force was in place. But police say the task force has brought down violent crime by 4.9 percent. Follow along with the task force on Twitter at @DallasPDVCTF.

Crime numbers

$225,000

Amount citizens group Safer Dallas Better Dallas wants to raise to buy ‘less-lethal’ firearms for the Dallas Police Department

40-millimeter sponge guns are designed to stop someone in their tracks without breaking the skin. The ammo expands on impact, causing pain and incapacitating a suspect

$19 million raised by Safer Dallas Better Dallas for DPD equipment and programs to date