What they said is supported by science: effective public safety depends on trust and partnership. We need cops and communities coming together. And we need federal/state/local collaboration, not competition. I hope folks in White House will listen.

We're deeply impressed by the courage we've seen, and kudos to Mayors Dickens, Johnston, Wu, Young, and the others for their steady leadership in trying times. Kudos to our other VRC Mayors Kincannon, Spencer, and Williams as well.

At best, the VRC provides cities with a small edge - helping to put together a roadmap informed by science and supported by local stakeholders. At the end of the day, however, it's folks on the ground who do the real work of turning plans into action.

The VRC provides the mayor and other key stakeholders with the most reliable crime science out there, presented in completely nonpartisan terms. We also bring the lived experience of local stakeholders into the room. From there, the city chooses how to proceed.

Violence and crime is falling in most U.S. cities. That said, VRC partners are outperforming the national averages. Why? We help bring local stakeholders together under the leadership of mayors in support of evidence-informed, community-informed anti-violence plans.

Thank you!

Will this historic progress continue? No one knows, but I worry that federal actions decimating funding for state and local anti-crime programs, not to mention everything else the feds are doing, could undo much of this good work.

To reduce violent crime effectively, you need strategies that are focused, balanced, and fair. We saw more strategies like these (focused deterrence, cognitive behavioral interventions, hot spots policing) in recent years.

Why is this happening? My take (and it's only a take) is that as we get farther from the factors that spiked crime in 2020 (pandemic, protests, gun sales), rates started to decline, plus cities with help from the feds implemented smart anti-crime policies.

Violent crime overall in 2025 was at or below levels in 2019. There were 25% fewer homicides in 2025 than in 2019. Aggravated assault (-6%), gun assault (-13%), sexual assault (-4%), domestic violence (-19%), robbery (-36%), and carjacking (-29%) also were lower in 2025 than in 2019.

When data for jurisdictions of all sizes is reported by the FBI later this year, there is a strong possibility that homicides in 2025 will drop to about 4.0 per 100,000 - the lowest rate ever recorded going back to 1900, and would be the largest single-year percentage drop in the rate on record.

Homicide rates were 21% lower in 2025 than in 2024 in the 35 study cities providing data for that crime. There were 9% fewer aggravated assaults, 22% fewer gun assaults, and 2% fewer domestic violence incidents last year than in 2024. Robbery fell 23% while carjackings decreased 43%.