US President Donald Trump on 15 August announced what he described as the largest reduction in violent crime in American history, citing a new FBI uniform crime report that he said documented sharp declines in murders and other serious offences across the United States during 2025. Trump made the announcement before law enforcement officers and supporters in Garden City, New York.

What Trump Claimed

The president said the FBI's newly released uniform crime report showed 2025 recorded the single largest year-on-year drop in violent crime since such data began being compiled. He cited more than 3,100 fewer murders compared to the preceding year, alongside declines across reported rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries, and thefts.

'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 during his address.

He added: 'Rapes, 10,000 fewer — we had 10,000 fewer rapes than the year before. One million fewer assaults, robberies, burglaries, thefts.'

Trump did not provide a detailed categorical breakdown of the FBI data during his remarks, nor did he explain how individual crime categories contributed to the aggregate figure.

Preliminary 2026 Figures and City-Level Claims

Trump said preliminary data suggested the downward trend had extended into 2026, with robberies reportedly falling by a further 20 per cent and murders by another 23 per cent. He also credited targeted federal operations in Washington DC, Memphis, and New Orleans with driving localised reductions.

'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, claiming that more than 30,000 individuals described as criminals had been removed from those three cities within a single year.

Broader Law Enforcement Figures

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

He also claimed that nearly 5,000 individuals — many described as repeat offenders — had been removed from Washington DC alone, characterising the federal effort as having transformed the capital from one of the country's most dangerous cities to one of its safest.

Context and Caveats

Trump's claims rest on the newly released FBI uniform crime report, the full details of which were not publicly elaborated upon during his address. Historically, year-on-year crime statistics are subject to methodological variation, changes in reporting practices by local agencies, and differences in how offences are classified — factors that independent analysts typically account for before characterising a change as 'historic.' No independent verification of the specific figures cited by Trump was immediately available at the time of his speech.

Notably, this is not the first time the Trump administration has highlighted crime reduction as a policy achievement; similar claims were made during his first term, with varying degrees of independent corroboration. The administration's emphasis on federal operations in select cities as drivers of change also reflects a broader political framing around federal law enforcement authority.

Independent crime researchers and policy analysts are expected to scrutinise the full FBI report in the coming days, which will provide a clearer picture of methodology, scope, and comparability with prior years.