Dallas Community Prosecution Team

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The Dallas Community Prosecution Team uses Strategic Code Enforcement and creative strategies to address the most complex issues facing neighborhoods across the City of Dallas.  The CP Team serves fourteen target areas with seventeen attorneys and partners with seven certified code officers.  Community Prosecution manages and operates two community courts and a program specifically designed for offenders re-entering neighborhoods in the City of Dallas.  The CP Team focuses resources on three main priorities:

The Dallas City Attorney’s Office has various tools available to serve blighted neighborhoods.  Community Prosecutors identify a wide range of significant code violations in target communities and enact specific remedies to address and abate the violations.  Community Prosecutors use civil jurisdiction to enforce the city’s housing code ordinances, and they file litigation in district court to address egregious code violators.  Community Prosecutors use criminal jurisdiction to prosecute quality of life crimes including but not limited to substandard structures, hazardous or vacant buildings, illegal land uses, prostitution, public intoxication, graffiti, litter, noise, overgrown vegetation, illegal dumping, homelessness issues, and outside illegal storage.  This collaborative approach of dual jurisdiction and consistent enforcement allows our community prosecutors a range of options to address community concerns. 

The Dallas CP Team partners with other City Departments in order to strategically attack blight and havens for criminal activity.  The CP Team strategically employs city resources to reduce the number of code, alcohol, and zoning violations.  The CP Team inspects multi-family apartment complexes for code, fire, and building violations, assists with drug house evictions, organizes and participates in special initiatives and sweeps, prosecutes impact offenders, and initiates high impact litigation.  The CP Team assists with vacant property closures, empty lots, and administrative legal proceedings.  Through strong partnerships, and focused code enforcement, the CP Team helps increase the public safety and awareness in the fourteen target areas throughout the City.