Editorial: Kash Patel promised to take on violent Crime. He has delivered.
When Kash Patel was confirmed as FBI Director, he made a straightforward commitment that the FBI would refocus on violent crime. Cartels, gangs, fentanyl, and child predators would move to the top of the priority list. Fourteen months in, the results are on the board and show that Patel and the FBI have delivered.
The FBI’s preliminary 2025 crime data, released this month, shows the single largest decrease in violent crime and murder since 1937. Homicides fell more than 18 percent year-over-year. Robberies dropped 18.5 percent. Rape and aggravated assault each fell roughly 7 percent. Property crime declined 12.4 percent. A separate study of the country’s largest police departments, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, found murders down 17.7 percent and robberies down 20.4 percent in the first quarter alone.
The operational record matches the data. Fentanyl seizures are up 31%. Eight of the world’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives captured in fourteen months, twice the total of the Biden FBI after four full years.
These numbers are historical. Violent crime per capita is approaching the lowest rate since we kept records. But you wouldn’t know it based on how the press has been covering Patel.
Just imagine this record under a Democratic FBI director. But instead of covering this massive crime drop, the liberal press has been obsessed with Patel’s personal life and running smears no matter how ridiculous or poorly sourced. For example, at least one media outlet has spent more time covering the fact that Patel–with his own money–paid for engraved whiskey bottles as a gift than it has spent covering the historic drop in crime.
In some ways, Patel is a victim of his own success, which is the same dynamic President Trump faces on the border. When illegal crossings collapsed to historic lows, the cameras moved on. When the murder rate falls off a cliff, no one runs a chyron about the cliff. The political reward for solving a crisis is that voters stop thinking about the crisis.
Kash has also spent a substantial amount of time outside of DC visiting field offices and working with state and local officials. We heard firsthand that Patel’s visit to Arkansas (see photo above) was extremely well received, with local law enforcement being impressed with Patel’s knowledge of Arkansas’s crime issues, his commitment to partnering, and Patel being relatable and humble–a welcome contrast from Chris Wray or James Comey.
Patel kept his promise and Americans are safer for it. For that, he deserves our thanks.
