Fort Worth’s long-term plan for violent crime is solid. But the urgent focus is illegal guns

Fort Worth has come a long way since the 1990s on crime, but our city and its police force face new challenges.

That’s one of the key takeaways from Police Chief Neil Noakes’ Feb. 15 presentation to the Fort Worth City Council on how to curb violent crime which he repeatedly said is his No. 1 focus.

Even as Fort Worth’s population has grown, crime has decreased, nearly 40 percent since 1990. That’s a fact and a good one.

But past improvements don’t make people in Fort Worth’s hot spots feel any safer.

Fort Worth’s uptick in crime started in 2020 amid the pandemic, and it mirrors trends seen in other cities.

Firearm violence is especially prominent: Homicides have increased from 71 in 2019 to 115 in 2020. There were 388 total shootings in 2021 (that’s wounded victims and fatalities combined). Two teenagers were shot and killed at a Valentine’s Day party, for goodness sake.

Aggravated assaults have also increased. Robbery is the only major crime that has declined.

The demographics of victims and criminals are discomforting, too. They show an obvious discrepancy in race: 86 percent of shooting victims were male and 62 percent were Black. Nearly nine of 10 homicides are committed by males; two-thirds of perpetrators are Black.

Some will balk at a sharp focus on race, but we need to understand why crime is surging in certain hot spots in Fort Worth and flood resources to address the problem.

“The recipe is not that difficult,” Noakes said. “It comes down to two words really, police and partnerships.”

That might seem like common sense, but right now, either the recipe is wrong or the ingredients are.

In his presentation, Noakes said the police department was committed to “solid, professional, precise, data-driven, intelligence-led policing.” Police will be looking for “partnerships with social service agencies…with our educators… with nonprofits … with our communities.”

From May 11-Sept. 11 in 2021, the Police Department instituted the first phase of the “Fort Worth Safe” initiative, which used data, intelligence, and technology to focus on specific crime hot spots. As a result, 671 arrests were made, and the Gun Violence Investigations Team recovered 54 guns.

Noakes specified that community outreach meant connecting with local business owners, citizens and faith leaders to make them aware of the initiative. Those efforts have also included asking for community input on where violent crimes take place and a plan to communicate between the community and police department.

Gang prevention intervention also included partnering with the community, specifically school districts.

The police department re-allocated Crime Control and Prevention District funds that go toward groups that help prevent violent crime in different ways, such as after-school programs or the Safe Haven Youth Program.

To solve a particular, obvious uptick in crime in Fort Worth, we have to know why it happened in the first place, as well as where and how to target it.

Noakes’ office said he was not available for an interview, but public information Officer Brad Perez told the Editorial Board in an e-mail: “The reasons for the increase in crime are complex and multifaceted. We are partnering with Texas Christian University to research and study crime trends and the best way to target crime in our city. The department makes it a priority to identify crime trends and take appropriate action. We are also prioritizing community partnerships that are necessary to combat and deter crime.”

Whether the uptick is due to the pandemic or not, 2020 is long gone. Texas has been open and functioning for over a year. It’s well past time to determine an origin or, at least, to acknowledge some possibilities and then organize a suitable, tangible plan.

In the Fort Worth Safe Initiative, the police department made a connection: people committing homicides with guns often also committed other non-fatal shootings. The department formed a separate group of officers that investigate non-fatal shootings in order to deepen their understanding, and they’ve made strides in clearing out illegal guns.

Noakes showed a slide of guns like AR-15s, those typically featuring military-style adaptations, while also expressing support for the Second Amendment. As the Fort Worth Safe initiative continued, the police department has confiscated 173 weapons.

Noakes mentioned Dallas police Chief Eddie Garcia and the job he has done to reduce violent crime. One of the primary tools there has been “hot spot policing,” the use of data, intelligence and technology to zero in on areas with concentrated violent crime.

Fort Worth police must review and consider any and all strategies that have worked elsewhere. For instance, El Paso has a similar population size and a far lower crime rate. What’s working in that border city?

Community involvement, re-allocating funds and the Fort Worth Safe initiative are solid ideas that may lead to long-term solutions. But if violent crime is really the focus, the police department should home in on just that: Enforce gun laws. Get illegal guns off the streets. Eradicate the black market for guns.

Civilians can play a role, too, by securing their legally owned guns to prevent theft and misuse and by being careful when selling a firearm.

The men and women who don blue uniforms not knowing what they’ll encounter put their lives on the line daily. We are grateful and indebted to them for that.

Their sacrifice, combined with the disconcerting crime rate, mean police and city leadership should commit themselves to enforcing gun laws and decreasing violent crime now.