Tipsheet

The FBI Refocused on Violent Crime — and the Results Speak for Themselves

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  December 31, 2025 2:00 PM

As we close out the year, both FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bogino are celebrating the agency's wins in "crushing" violent crime. 

In a lengthy post on X, Patel said, "In 2025, the FBI elevated violent crime as a top investigative priority, realigning resources, surge capabilities, and enterprise coordination to focus on the threats posing the greatest risk to public safety - including violent gangs, firearms trafficking, and repeat violent offenders."

He highlighted some of the wins of the Violent Crime Section (VCS), which took the lead on several successful operations.

“'Operation No Escape' for example, saw the arrest of nearly 800 fugitives, 'Project Welcome Home' allowed state and local partners to bring 30 violent fugitives to justice, and VCS assisted in coordinating captures of FOUR of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. This is the same number captured during the entirety of the previous four years," Patel wrote. "We also set up the Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG) to provide senior leadership with unfiltered, frontline insight into the operational challenges faced by agents combating violent crime - bringing us the field-driven solutions Washington DC needs."

He also credited Bongino for taking the lead on "Operation Summer Heat," writing, "These operations included Summer Heat led by @FBIDDBongino (over 8,500 arrests in 3 months), Coast to Coast, and Immigration Enforcement - all which highlighted joint investigative efforts between the FBI, HSI, and ERO partners. And local law enforcement partnerships are the cornerstone of our successful everyday police work."

Bongino shared some of the statistics that show how hard this FBI is working to bring back trust and put violent criminals away.

Those achievements included more than 50,000 arrests, including 30,000+ for violent crime (nearly double from 2024), the disruption of more than 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises (a 210 percent increase), the seizure of more than 2,000 kilos of Fentanyl (an increase of 31 percent). Bongino noted that Fentanyl is enough to kill 130 million Americans.

The FBI also saw a 409 percent increase in "Nihilistic Violent Extremism" arrests, the location of more than 6,000 child victims, and a historic drop in the U.S. murder rate.

Back on December 26, Bongino noted that the FBI worked to focus on the "pockets of the country where violent crime is located."

"An extremely small percentage of the population commits the majority of violent crimes. Most of these perpetrators have been arrested multiple times," Bongino wrote. "he FBI field offices, in conjunction with law enforcement partners, produced record-breaking arrest numbers and historic drops in violent crime. These are data-based results which defy armchair 'analysis.'"

On December 17, Bongino announced that he would be stepping away from his role as Deputy Director of the FBI. 

"I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January," Bongino wrote in a post on X. "I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you."

When President Trump learned of Bongino's departure, he said, "Dan did a great job."

And the numbers show that he did.