I live right off Lower Greenville in Dallas, TX, where all the bars are located. We have cops driving around our 15 townhome complex ALL THE TIME. It’s middle of the night, and there’s a cop car driving down Lower Greenville. It’s 7 am, and a whole stack of cop cars are at CharBar. It’s 4 pm on a Sunday, and there’s a cop car at the local 7-Eleven. I’ve heard that the Lower Greenville bars pay/hire cops to be noticeable especially on Friday and Saturday night and I think it really helps as we have only had one fight breakout in the parking lot next door this entire year. Anyway, my point is, wait anywhere on Greenville or the M-streets and you’ll see a cop passing by within 15 minutes.

Wait anywhere in South Dallas and it is not the same experience. In 2 1/2 months of driving Serena, I have seen TWO cop cars in the 75215 zip code. The other two zip codes that she works, 75210 and 75241, I have not seen any cop cars patrolling. The two cops I saw were obviously on a mission because they were driving fast through the neighborhood streets (by the way, without their light on,) gunning their engines, and disappearing around the corner. I have not seen a cop on patrol; by that, I mean a cop who is casually driving down the street making himself available to be approached by a neighborhood resident.