Miami-Dade sees sharp drop in homicides
Why it matters: Stats compiled by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) indicate that the nationwide COVID-era crime wave has almost faded away — even as some officials, including President Trump, falsely claim that immigrants are driving increased crime rates.
The big picture: Violent crime in the U.S., especially homicides, spiked during the final year of Trump's first term and during Joe Biden's first two years as president.
Since then, they've been dropping dramatically, an Axios review of MCCA data shows.
Overall, violent crimes — robberies, rapes and aggravated assaults — decreased by an average of 14% in the first quarter of this year, reports from police departments in 68 cities indicate.
Many cities have had significant drops in homicides so far this year.
Dallas has seen a 44% decline. Denver (58%), Honolulu (82%), Minneapolis (54%) and Philadelphia (28%) were among the cities showing notable drops.
The data didn't include New York City, the nation's largest city, which didn't submit crime numbers. New York releases crime stats on its own website, where it reported a 34% drop in homicides in the first quarter of 2025.
Zoom in: The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office investigates homicides in 27 of Miami-Dade's 35 municipalities and unincorporated Miami-Dade.
MDSO handled 11 homicides between Jan. 1 and March 31, down from 18 during the same period in 2024, per MCCA data.
The City of Miami, which has its own homicide unit, handled eight homicide cases during the 2025 period, compared to 9 during the same three-month period in 2024.
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