Solving Crime isn’t Complicated

For years, Americans living in the nation’s largest cities have been told that crime is a complicated problem. According to pundits and politicians, crime is invariably caused by racism, that criminals are better understood as victims, and law enforcement only worsens injustice. The police should be defunded. Only by enacting a radical (and expensive) social justice agenda will American cities thrive once again.

Those ideas gained their loudest audience during the Biden years, as urban violence and disorder spread unchecked. Despite all evidence to the contrary, many mayors and councils continued to regard “defunding the police” as a serious strategy. With so many major American cities under the leadership of those openly hostile to law enforcement, it seemed certain that urban crime would continue to grow worse.

Then Memphis proved the truth: solving crime is not complicated.

In September 2025, President Donald J. Trump established the Memphis Safe Task Force with a clear mandate - deploy federal resources, coordinate with state and local law enforcement, and get violent criminals off the streets. Federal agencies including the FBI, DEA, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Marshals worked alongside the Tennessee National Guard to carry out that mission. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee reinforced the effort by committing state resources, despite sharp opposition from left-wing critics.

Six months later, the results speak for themselves. The task force has made more than 7,400 arrests, seized over 1,200 firearms illegally owned by dangerous criminals, and located and returned over 150 missing children. Thanks to the president’s task force, overall crime has plummeted more than 43% compared to the same period last year.

Residents feel the difference. In recent polling, 62% of county residents said the Safe Task Force was effective at reducing crime. One resident, Rachel Belz, told a local ABC affiliate that daily life feels safer: "I feel comfortable going to the gas station or to the grocery store. People are being held accountable for their actions.”

Crime statistics confirm that the Task Force strategy works. But the real measure of success is simpler: law-abiding citizens like Rachel can once again live ordinary, lives without fear.

Crime dropped because President Trump gave federal law enforcement a mission, Governor Lee backed that mission with state resources, and neither listened to the predictable howls of protest from the left.

This past Monday, President Trump returned to see that progress firsthand. The visit is a more than a well-deserved victory lap. The visit sends a message that what worked in Tennessee can – and should – be replicated across the country.

The Memphis model requires no new laws. The Safe Task Force simply demonstrated the will to enforce the laws already on the books. For too long, police officers have been forced work with one hand tied behind their backs. Their work was undermined by fearful prosecutors who declined to bring charges, liberal judges who refused to hold criminals behind bars, and radical local officials who characterized effective policing as institutionalized racism. These problems are hardly unique to Memphis. They are found in dozens of other large and mid-size cities across the United States. What worked in Memphis can work anywhere.

The lesson is straightforward. Crime and disorder are not unsolvable problems. With the Memphis Safe Task Force, President Trump has put every mayor and governor in America on notice. You can no longer pretend that crime and disorder are intractable problems. You can no longer peddle the claim that policing is an instrument of injustice. The mayors and governors who continue to deny their citizens safety will answer for that recklessness. For criminals, the equation is even simpler: If you commit a crime, you will be arrested, prosecuted, and held accountable. Every time.

An America First approach to justice starts with protecting the lives and security law-abiding citizens. Families deserve safe streets, police deserve support, and violent criminals deserve to be behind bars.

When local governments deliver on those commitments, communities thrive. When they don’t, state and federal authorities can and must intervene, just as they did in Memphis. Thanks to the Safe Task Force, 150 families now have their children safely back home. And Memphis residents can once again stop at their local gas station without fear.

President Trump's visit on Monday is a celebration of progress and a challenge to every mayor, every governor, and every official watching from the sidelines. The Memphis Safe Task Force has proven that solving violent crime is not complicated when leaders have the will and the courage to act.