A typical Friday night for an SMU student could include watchingthe latest Dallas-grown cover band, getting a late night bite toeat and meeting friends at a bar in Deep Ellum.
Almost every 20-something that comes to Dallas has at leastheard of this urban village for artistic expression.
But this summer, Deep Ellum earned a reputation as acrime-ridden area, a perception that cut deeply into the number ofcustomers at some businesses, according to the Dallas Observer.
The Deep Ellum Association recently undertook an aggressiveanti-crime campaign that, it said, has successfully restored theintended atmosphere of Deep Ellum.
Carissa Hughes, SMU senior and frequent Deep Ellum visitor,noticed the changes.
“There is still stuff going on, but it’s gettingbetter,” she said.
Hughes has heard about robbers beating up band members for theirequipment and has noticed a gradual increase in fights, but shealso noticed the increased security.
“There’s not a big problem anymore,” she said,”because the cops are there. It’s helped out alot.”
Statistics on the Dallas Police Department Web site show thatthe number of robberies and rapes reported in 2003 in Deep Ellumalready exceed the totals for last year.
During the first seven months of 2003, 31 robberies have beenreported, compared to 22 in 2002.
Sexual assaults also are rising. Five were reported during thefirst seven months in 2003.
That is equal to the combined number of sexual assaults reportedin Deep Ellum for the previous two years. The number of assaults,burglaries and thefts reported in 2003 is similar to theyear-to-date totals in 2002.
Sean Wisdom, head of the Deep Ellum Association, said the crimeproblem was primarily a result of loitering and cruising —people driving around Deep Ellum without going into anybusiness.
“The atmosphere was full of tension,” he said.”We had a lot of bad guys who decided it was cool to walk thestreet and own the place — a lot of verbal harassment andpeople confronting each other.”
Wisdom said that around 2 a.m., there would be fights or randomacts of violence, actions the Dallas Police Department has dubbed”wilding.”
The negative atmosphere began to deter customers, according toWisdom.
“You may have seen 10,000 people on the street, but theclubs were only 30 to 40 percent full,” he said. “Itchoked off Deep Ellum.”
Owners took action this summer to alleviate the problems.
The first step that the Deep Ellum Association took to preventcrime was hiring additional private security officers in July. ThenMotorola donated $5,000 in walkie-talkies for police officers anddoormen. Wisdom said the walkie-talkie network broke up a fewpotential conflicts before any trouble broke out.
Since August, Elm, Commerce and Main streets have been closed onFriday and Saturday nights.
This prevents cruising, which clogs the streets with traffic,Wisdom said. The city of Dallas agreed to conduct a traffic studyto find a way to prevent cruising without closing streets.
Most recently, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and the Dallas PoliceDepartment agreed to quadruple the number of police in Deep Ellumat an August meeting.
There were as many as 48 police officers in Deep Ellum for thelast two weekends in August.
That number has decreased slightly, but Wisdom said they”will continue to deploy officers based on need.”
Wisdom said the campaign has been successful.
“There was a perception [that] we liked it wild,” hesaid. “That was never the case. We like it edgy, artistic andfree-spirited. But violence, intimidation and harassment were neverthe plan.”
Another SMU student, Kelsey Guy, said she felt safe in DeepEllum, despite the crime earlier this year.
“Deep Ellum is a one-of-a-kind thing,” she said.”I wouldn’t go anywhere else.”
