Trump claims historic fall in US violent crime

US President Donald Trump has claimed the largest fall in violent crime in American history, citing FBI data showing sharp reductions in murders and other offences in 2025. He also said preliminary figures showed further declines in 2026.

Washington: US President Donald Trump has announced what he described as the largest fall in violent crime in American history, citing a new FBI report that he said showed sharp reductions in murders and other serious offences during 2025.

Trump made the announcement during an address to law enforcement officers and supporters in Garden City, New York. He credited federal agencies, local police and his administration’s policies for the reported decline.

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“Today, I’m thrilled to announce that the FBI has just released a new uniform crime report showing that in 2025, we achieved the single largest reduction in violent crime in American history,” Trump said.

The president claimed there were more than 3,100 fewer murders than in the preceding year. He also cited declines in reported rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries and thefts.

“Think of this, rapes, 10,000 fewer, we had 10,000 fewer rapes than the year before,” Trump said. “One million fewer assaults, robberies, burglaries, thefts.”

Trump did not provide a detailed breakdown of the FBI data or explain how the individual crime categories contributed to the overall figure during his remarks.

“The numbers, every single number, it’s the first time it’s ever happened. Every single number is the lowest number in recorded history,” he said.

Trump said preliminary figures indicated that the decline had continued into 2026. He claimed that robberies had fallen by another 20 per cent and murders by another 23 per cent.

“So the numbers you just heard, the preliminary numbers for just now are even lower than the record numbers that you just heard,” he said.

The president also credited federal operations in Washington, Memphis and New Orleans with reducing crime. He said more than 30,000 people described as criminals had been removed from the streets of the three cities in one year.

“In Memphis, crime is down 71 per cent. In New Orleans, crime is down 75 per cent. And in DC, crime is down 81 per cent,” Trump said.

He claimed that nearly 5,000 people, many of them repeat offenders, had been removed from Washington. The federal effort, he said, had transformed the US capital from one of the country’s most dangerous cities into one of its safest.

Trump also said federal law enforcement had arrested 1.2 million people described as criminals since he took office. Federal criminal prosecutions had risen by more than 50 per cent, while FBI arrests for violent crime had nearly doubled, he said.