Oakland homicides fall to 25-year low – how did it stem the violence?

Despite Trump’s claims, California city has found success in lowering deadly violence, thanks to pioneering efforts to steer people down a different path In the summer of 2025, as Donald Trump rolled out his plan to deploy the national guard to Washington DC and Chicago, he suggested other American cities were overrun with violence and could soon see federal troops: Memphis, Los Angeles, New York. Oakland, the president argued, was beyond saving. “And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. They’re so far gone. We don’t even talk about that any more,” Trump said. But as Trump was making these comments, Oakland was in the midst of a historic drop in homicides. The Bay Area city ended 2025 with 67 people killed, according to data from the Oakland police department, half of its 2021 high of 134. It’s the lowest number of violent deaths recorded in 25 years. The news has been held up by city officials, community advocates and non-profit leaders as a sign that their respective and – sometimes combined – efforts to stem the violence are making a difference for those living in the city. And it has proved especially meaningful given the ground that was lost during