Fort Worth Police Department Strategic Plan
Fort Worth Demographics and Trends Fort Worth is the fifth largest city in Texas, and the 16th largest city in the United States. Significant neighborhood and economic development and steady population growth over recent years makes the city a premier destination for business and family relocation. A revitalized downtown became an anchor for redevelopment, buttressed by a world- renowned cultural arts district, beautifully preserved western-heritage sites, and established thriving neighborhoods. Private and public investment is evident in nearly every division in Fort Worth. Major transportation projects including the Chisholm Trail Parkway, the widening of I-35W, and other arterial projects throughout Fort Worth add to the investment occurring in the city, but also increase police department workload as urban sprawl begets a shift in how FWPD responds to calls for service, deploys patrol officers, designs future beats, and plans infrastructure/facility improvements. New, expansive retail and commercial developments and residential subdivisions in the northern, southern, and the western sections of the city pose particular threats in future years. The annexation and development of huge tracts of former ranch land in the west, a new university campus and residential expansion to the south and north, each compound the complexity of operational demands: processing and accepting calls in the Police Dispatch Center, to patrol response, to beat allocation, to calls for service, to providing detectives the opportunity to investigate criminal cases. Population Growth As of July 1, 2015, the population in Fort Worth is estimated at 833,319, and the city limits totals in excess of 353 square miles (there are an additional 300+ square miles of unincorporated land in the city). Since 2000, Fort Worth has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States among cities over 500,000 in population. It is reasonable to align the FWPDwith assumptions that Fort Worth will continue to grow in population, which will therefore result in more demand for police services. Figure 2.1 below illustrates historic population growth with a solid line and the projected growth with a dashed line:
Figure 2.1. Fort Worth Historic and Projected Population Growth 1960 – 2040
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
Population
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040
Year
Fort Worth Demographics and Trends
Page 9
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs