When you think about where certain crimes are concentrated, some of the answers are obvious.
You’re more likely to see reports of shoplifting around a shopping center compared with a block hosting a single store. There likely will be more reports of drunkenness around bar areas as patrons stumble out of businesses at the end of the night.
The Denton Police Department provides the public with regular crime statistics in two crime datasets titled Denton Crime Data and Crime Data. Using the data, the Denton Record-Chronicle found where certain crimes were reported the most in the city between Dec. 31, 2009, and Aug. 27, 2020.
The Record-Chronicle ran a query to find where certain crimes were occurring the most and reviewed those with addresses returned. While certain blocks may see reports of multiple crimes, the actual figure for that block could be just a small percentage of the total for that crime.
Some of the repeated locations where crimes occur are self-explanatory: Shoplifting occurs mostly around shopping centers, remember. That said, there are a few major shopping areas in the city, but one is hit the most — South Loop 288 at Brinker Road, where Denton Crossing and other shopping areas are located.
Assistant Chief Bobby Smith of the Denton Police Department has been with the department for about 26 years. Although the numbers show more shoplifting in the Denton Crossing area than other shopping areas, he couldn’t provide a solid answer on why.
“We haven’t analyzed [that data]. ... It could be there are more customers that use that Walmart than the one on the north side [of the city], but I simply cannot say that for certain,” he said. “There are some other factors that could be involved.”
After Denton Crossing, the other shopping areas among the 6,812 shoplifting reports include Denton Town Center and the Golden Triangle Mall area, both on South Loop 288 near Interstate 35E.
The data sets cover about 11 years’ worth of reports. In shoplifting reports, Denton Crossing outnumbers Rayzor Ranch’s shopping areas, in the 2600 and 2700 blocks of West University Drive by more than 1,500 instances, but Rayzor Ranch hasn’t been around as long as Denton Crossing. Since 2018, the Rayzor Ranch area has seen more reports annually than Denton Crossing.
While being drunk in public isn’t a crime itself, there are things people can do that can lead to a public intoxication arrest or report.
“The [drunkenness] offense is when you’re so intoxicated, you’re a danger to yourself or others, meaning you cannot protect yourself or others because you may want to fight, may become aggressive,” Smith said.
The bar area around Fry Street sees the most reports of drunkenness and simple assault compared with anywhere else in the city. Most of the bars are in the 100 block of Avenue A, and in this block alone, there were 456 reports of drunkenness from 2009 to mid-2020. There are hundreds more when you take into account the other street blocks and intersections that surround the bars.
Smith said he thinks the increased number of drunkenness reports in this area is a combination of a higher concentration of patrons there and increased patrols. There are bars downtown and in surrounding areas, but they’re more spread out compared with the block of bars near the University of North Texas campus, and drunkenness around Fry Street and Avenue A remains higher than in the downtown area.
“My speculation, it could have something to do with age,” Smith said. “If you look at areas around the university, there are younger people, and there may be a lack of good decision-making. … It’s been my experience that we have more fights in the area closest to the universities versus the town Square.”
Despite the hundreds of incidents of drunkenness here, they make up only about 6% of drunkenness reports. With 139 incidents, the 1000 block of South Avenue C, another area near UNT, has the second-highest number of drunkenness reports. (Development in recent years means there are no longer bars like Rockin’ Rodeo in that stretch of Avenue C.) But about 49% of drunkenness reported at bars came from the Fry Street area.
Simple assaults were most common in the 100 block of Avenue A but still made up only 1.5% of reported simple assaults. The next highest number of simple assault reports come from the 5300 block of East McKinney Street, near a mobile home community. Most simple assaults happen at residences.
Drug and narcotic offenses are tied mostly to the block where the Police Department is located, which could signal warrants, but Smith said it also could be officers finding contraband on people they’ve just arrested.
Other than that, the 700 block of Fort Worth Drive had the highest concentration of drug and narcotic violations compared with other areas.
“I’m not going to name locations down there, but I will say there is quite a lot of drug activity around that area with some establishments,” Smith said. “Not necessarily at the fault of the merchant, but the clientele. In that area, there’s high meth usage.”
Although a query pinged this area for the second-highest total of drug violations, the 154 instances make up only 2.7% of these violations. Among the rest of the reports, about 100 occurred in the Denton Crossing area. Most violations occur at homes (1,919) and on the road (1,500).
When the department’s crime analysts notice a trend, Smith said they then place officers in the area to patrol at times when offenses are at their highest to try to deter potential offenders.
“When we become aware of a crime trend or a series, we sort of start putting some things together,” he said. “Detectives might be assigned; patrol officers might be sent to an area during peak of crime for high visibility patrol meant to deter any sort of potential suspect from committing those crimes in specific areas.”
While he doesn’t personally get requests from incoming Denton residents looking for areas to live with less crime, Smith recommends looking through the city’s crime map.
“Citizens can use the interactive crime map, plug in the range you’re interested in, and look,” he said. “When I was a detective sergeant long ago, I got requests here and there.”
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