Homicides in Dallas by the numbers

The Dallas Police Department will report on homicides to City Council's Public Safety Committee today and some of the numbers jump right out at me:

• 67 per cent of all homicides in Dallas occur in a residence, an apartment or an apartment parking lot.
• 61 percent of all homicides are carried out with a handgun (yet we insist on making these damn things easy to obtain)
• 78 percent of all victims are between the ages of 18 and 49
• 89 percent of all victims are males
• The most fatal time of the week is Tuesday between 6 p.m. and midnight.
• 53 percent of all murders came under the jurisdiction of either the Southeast or the South Central Patrol Division.

Overall, however, the crime numbers continue to be improving. The Committee will see that violent crime is down 19.6 percent in Dallas over the last year and non-violent crimes (burglaries, auto thefts) are down 18.6 percent.

Henry Hill pleads guilty to public intoxication

Henry Hill (pictured right) received two years' probation, credit for four days served in jail and a $220 fine in a San Bernardino, California, court for two misdemeanor counts of public intoxication. For those scratching their heads, going "Henry Hill ... Henry Hill ... Why do I know that name" it's probably because you are, like me, a big fan of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas in which Ray Liotta played the mobster-turned-FBI-informant. Hill is now 65 and testified against the mob in 1980. In return, he was placed in the federal witness protection program, but removed from it in the early 1990s after repeated drug arrests.

Another statistic to support gun control legislation

The Dallas City Council's Public Safety Committee is scheduled to be briefed Monday on the city's homicide rate. The good news is that it is down, significantly, from 197 in 2007 to 154 in 2008, a nearly 22 percent drop. What I found troubling, however, was slide 11 of the briefing, that lists the types of weapons used in the commission of these murders. Nearly two-thirds of them, 102 of the 154, were committed by those using handguns, another argument for outlawing these weapons. Rest easy, you bloodthirsty types that think it's great sport to knock off a deer or splatter a bunch of ducks, I'm not talking about a total ban on all firearms. Six people were killed last year with rifles and two with shotguns, according the briefing. I know we can't make this country completely civilized like many European nations, but banning handguns and perhaps saving 1o2 lives a year in the city of Dallas might be a wonderful place to start.

Carjackers find the paper is mightier than the sword

Carjackers have come up with a new trick that has apparently proved successful. They paste a piece of paper on a potential victim's rear window. The thieves' thinking is that you'll notice the paper obscuring your view as you back out of your parking place. You'll put the car in park, leave the motor running, and get out of the car to remove the paper. When you do, the carnappers will jump into your car, put it in gear and drive off.

Today's tip, then, is obviously this: Wait until you get to your next destination, have turned the motor off, and locked the car before you remove that irritating piece of paper from your rear windshield.