Editorial: Falling crime numbers are a welcome development

The Editorial Board, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Feb 23, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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Even good news generates controversy in these polarizing times.

Violent crime is cratering in the United States, according to national statistics. Last year appears to have produced the sharpest decline ever for homicides.

“This is the fourth year in a row of declines, and each year has gotten a little bigger than the year before. And this is the first time that we’ve seen it in all of the categories; I think seven of the eight categories fell by close to a record amount,” John Roman, director of NORC’s Center on Public Safety and Justice at the University of Chicago, told The Hill. “So this is a unique and historic decline in crime and violence in the U.S.”

FBI numbers for last year have yet to be published, but other sources confirm the shift. Surveys by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Council on Criminal Justice indicate the progress has been rapid. The MCCA estimates that the number of U.S. homicides declined by more than 19 percent in 2025, The Hill reported.

Las Vegas mirrors the national trend. The number of murders last year in the Metropolitan Police Department’s jurisdiction fell 22%, from 115 to 90. “We’re in a great place,” said Metro Lt. Robert Price, who oversees the department’s homicide section. “If you ask me: How did we do it? I’d say it’s an agency-wide effort, but I think it starts with technology.”

The causes for societal trends are typically difficult to pinpoint given the myriad factors at play. Some observers attribute the decline to a crime spike during COVID. Roman cited increased police funding under former President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act. Many Republicans point to President Donald Trump’s more aggressive approach to federal law enforcement and its effect on local police departments.

“Nearly 200% more arrests. Violent gangs crushed. Fugitives hunted down,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media last month. “Media gymnastics can’t hide the reality that this administration brought law and order back, and Americans are safer because of it.”

It makes intuitive sense that stronger law-and-order policies would take more criminals off the streets and reduce crime rates. But the homicide drop occurred in most major metropolitan areas, whether run by Democrats or Republicans.

“The consistency of the homicide decline, both across cities and over time,” Emily Owens, a professor of criminology and economics at the University of California, Irvine, told The Hill, “makes me inclined to think this has to do with larger social movements … than with any one particular thing one particular city might be doing.”

Voters can make their own decisions about who or what deserves credit. In the meantime, Americans of all political persuasions should welcome the news.

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