The City of Fort Worth is actively looking for ways to reduce the chance of crime in the West 7th Entertainment District, including using a new method to control traffic in the area.
As per a presentation to the city council by the Fort Worth Police Department, gatherings tend to stay in the entertainment district long after the bars and restaurants shut down for the night.
“… [It] takes until about 3:15 in the morning until people really clear out and the streets return to normal,” Assistant Chief Robert Alldredge mentioned, according to Fox 4 KDFW. “Our police officers essentially create a barrier and encourage people to leave the area because when people gather, that's when negative things tend to occur.”
Just last month, a man was seriously injured in a shooting in the packed entertainment district filled with late-night St. Patrick’s Day celebrants. On September 1, a TCU injured was fatally shot in the early morning hours in an apparent random act of violence in the West 7th Entertainment District. student Fort Worth Police are aiming to prevent such tragedies in the future by reducing crowds and traffic in the area after hours. To help clear foot and pedestrian traffic, the police department has suggested using retractable metal
at key intersections in the district. bollards The purpose of the bollards is to help prevent traffic from entering the West 7th area at certain times of the night and help people leave the West 7th area,” Alldredge stated, according to Fox 4.
“The whole purpose The remote-controlled security posts would only be used for around an hour, “just enough time to get the crowd to disperse. Then once we’re done with them, we’ll lower them back down,” Alldredge said.
The bollards would cost about $140,000 to design and install, and the city is working to finalize a contract for them.
Additionally, the city is considering other actions to enhance safety in the entertainment district, including installing
cameras, which Flock identify license plates associated with outstanding warrants, and limiting rideshare pickup locations to just two areas in the district. The downtown area of Fort Worth, which encompasses the entertainment district, consistently experiences fewer crimes than the city center of neighboring Dallas, according to monthly reports by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association. Downtown Fort Worth is patrolled by a dedicated police unit and
private security reports While Fort Worth’s police department has a shortage of officers, the Dallas Police Department is consistently understaffed, with only about 3,100 officers citywide, despite a city that indicates a need for 4,000 to properly patrol the city. guards.
City leaders allocated just analysis $654 million
for the Dallas Police Department this fiscal year, than the funding for other high-crime jurisdictions like Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. The City of Fort Worth is proactively exploring ways to decrease the potential for crime in the West 7th Entertainment District, including the use of a new tool to manage traffic in the area. According to a presentation to the city council by the Fort Worth Police Department, crowds tend to congregate and linger in […] far less than the funding for other high-crime jurisdictions like Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles.
