An unexpected feud has erupted between the governor of California and the Dallas police chief.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been taking shots recently at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on social media.
One of those claims is that the murder rate in Dallas is higher than in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the U.S.
In a flurry of tweets over the weekend, Newsom, a Democrat, took shots at red states on social media, claiming that Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana all had higher murder rates than the City of Los Angeles.
Sunday night, his press office posted on X that Dallas’ murder rate is nearly twice that of LA.
“It’s interesting to me to watch the way that crime statistics get used,” said Timothy Bray, a University of Texas at Dallas criminologist.
Bray said he has looked at the stats from 2024 and that it may be a true statement, but it’s not an accurate assessment of which city is more dangerous to live in.
“Yes, Los Angeles has a lower murder rate than Dallas, but it has a higher robbery rate, it has a higher criminal sexual assault rate has a higher aggravated assault rate,” Bray said. “Its overall violent crime rate is higher.”
Newsom’s information comes from 2024 data.
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“When people start to think about quality of life, it’s not just murders, it’s: ‘Can I go outside and feel safe?'” said Bray. “All of those crimes played to that.”
According to 2024 data from police reports, the homicide rate is 14 per 100,000 in Dallas city vs 7.1 in Los Angeles city.
Monday, Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux responded on X with what he called a fact check.
“Fact check: Dallas has experienced 49 fewer murders in 2025 compared to this point in 2024 – putting us at 6.29 murders per 100,000 residents. Lower than LA’s 6.95!”
With 3.8 million residents, Los Angeles is nearly 3 times bigger than Dallas and has been called the “Gang Capital of America” even by the Los Angeles County sheriff.
Promoting LA as a safer city than Dallas is a hard sell based on one piece of data, according to those who study crime numbers.
“It’s easy to pick one statistic and compare it, but no one statistic tells the truth of the complexity of all quality of life neighborhoods,” said Bray.
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