Video Ex-Chicago cop reveals the Southern city that could hold key to crime crisis Retired Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy tells Fox News Digital the city should look to Memphis, where homicides fell sharply after the National Guard moved in, and says local leaders are refusing federal help amid a deepening officer shortage.
FIRST ON FOX: The Memphis Safe Task Force has made more than 12,000 arrests and seized more than 2,100 illegal firearms in its first year, Fox News Digital learned exclusively, as the Trump administration points to the operation's enforcement record amid a drop in crime across the city.
"President Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force has driven down violent crime in a city that was failed by extreme Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies. The Task Force has made more than 12,000 arrests including of murderers, sex offenders, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals and has seized more than 2,100 illegal firearms. President Trump restored law and order and made Memphis safe again," White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.
The task force, launched one year ago Tuesday, brought federal, state and local law enforcement agencies together after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the deployment of National Guard personnel to Memphis. The intervention came as Memphis, a Democratic-leaning city in solidly Republican Tennessee, confronted one of the nation’s most severe violent-crime problems, with FBI data showing the city had the highest violent-crime rate in the country in 2024.
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President Donald Trump signs a Presidential Memorandum that will deploy the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, to establish the "Memphis Safe Task Force," Monday, September 15, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
The operation has led to a 36% decrease in overall crime year over year, with motor vehicle thefts down 57%, robberies down 43%, murders down 44% and aggravated assaults down 27%, Fox News Digital learned.
In 2025, overall crime in Memphis was down 28% compared to 2024, data reviewed by Fox News Digital showed.
Memphis resident Darian Glover was convicted in August of distributing fentanyl that caused three fatal overdoses. One victim believed he was buying cocaine, but the substance tested positive for fentanyl.
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MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 11: Members of the National Guard patrol on October 11, 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee. National Guard members began patrolling Memphis this week as part of a federal task force established by President Trump to combat what the administration says is violent crime in the city. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
Burglaries are down 27% while shoplifting is down 44%, according to crime data.
In September, the DOJ also sentenced Memphis resident Courtney Trenell to 15 years in prison for serving as a getaway driver in two bank robberies and joining a conspiracy to rob six Memphis-area banks.
Federal law enforcement officers stand at the interception of Beale St. and N. Second St., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
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Memphis was grappling with a severe violent-crime crisis in the years before the task force launched, with homicides surging to 397 in 2023 from 301 a year earlier, according to the Justice Department. From coast to coast, violent crime surged in 2020 and remained elevated in the years immediately afterward, as the nation grappled with coronavirus lockdowns that year and widespread protests and riots.
The Memphis operation is part of a broader Trump administration effort to deploy federal law enforcement resources to cities facing high levels of violent crime. The administration has also launched a federal law-enforcement surge in Washington, D.C., where officials say the effort has produced a sharp decline in crime.
Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.
