Violent crime dropped significantly across the United States and in the North Texas region over the past year, according to new data released by the FBI. The agency’s 2025 Crime in the Nation Report recorded approximately 1.1 million violent crimes nationally, reflecting a 9.3% decrease compared to the previous year.
North Texas mirrored that national trend with a 9% overall decline in violent crime. Specific categories saw notable drops including a 12% decrease in murders, a 13% reduction in robberies, a 7% decline in sexual assaults and an 8% drop in aggravated assaults.
Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock attributed the improvements in part to stronger collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies. He pointed to several targeted operations as key contributors to the decline.
One major effort was Operation Red Card, a multi-city initiative across North and East Texas designed to remove violent offenders from communities ahead of the FIFA World Cup. Federal prosecutions from that operation covered offenses ranging from narcotics and firearms violations to robberies and kidnappings.
The FBI also expanded its presence in high-crime areas of Fort Worth through Operation Safe Neighborhood. A separate statewide initiative called Operation Soteria Shield brought together 90 agencies over the course of a month to target child predators, resulting in 270 arrests and the rescue of more than 80 children.
Rothrock was careful to note the limitations of the data. The report draws from roughly 17,000 of the more than 19,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide meaning not every jurisdiction is represented. He described the figures as a strong representative estimate rather than a complete count of all crimes committed.
When asked whether the crime reduction could be linked to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies Rothrock acknowledged that the FBI has increased its partnership with immigration agents over the past 18 months. He stopped short of directly crediting immigration crackdowns for the drop in violent crime.
“If that’s a tool that helps us to address violent crime then we’ll continue to use it” Rothrock said referring to the collaboration with immigration enforcement focused on identifying criminals in the country illegally.
Rothrock emphasized that the overarching goal remains identifying and removing individuals driving violent crime from local communities regardless of which enforcement tools are used to accomplish that objective.
