FBI Director Kash Patel has announced what critics once claimed was impossible: the national murder rate has fallen to the lowest level in modern history.

Patel, appointed by President Donald Trump to overhaul a deeply corrupted, politicized FBI, revealed the dramatic success during an exclusive sit-down with The Epoch Times.

“I’m happy to announce, finally, that… one of the big targets we had for this year… was to reduce the murder rate across America,” Patel said.

He added that the FBI’s upcoming December report will confirm the historic reality: homicide rates are down “by double digits.”

For years, left-wing media and Democrat politicians insisted crime couldn’t be brought under control without more “equity initiatives,” “restorative justice,” and hand-wringing lectures.

Patel and Trump proved them dead wrong.

According to DOJ data published in August, the murder rate in 2024 sat at 5 per 100,000 people, marking a 15.8 percent decrease from the previous year.

That translates to an estimated 17,000 murders in 2024, a drop of roughly 15 percent year-over-year — a trend nearly no major outlet bothered to acknowledge.

Patel made clear this turnaround didn’t happen by chance; it happened because criminals finally felt pressure after years of Democrat-enabled lawlessness.

Under Patel’s leadership, the FBI has made 30,000 arrests since January, including 25,000 violent offenders.

“We are over double the amount of arrests of violent offenders this calendar year, and we still have December to go,” Patel noted — an unmistakable jab at the weak-on-crime bureaucracy he inherited.

Much of the bureau’s focus has been on dismantling violent criminal enterprises — particularly those preying on children, something past FBI leadership allowed to metastasize.

Patel highlighted the takedown of the notorious 764 network, a Texas-based criminal organization.

This year, arrests targeting that network skyrocketed by 490 percent, a number that would have been unimaginable before Patel’s restructuring.

“That’s how hard we’re going after this disgusting group… and we’re not going to stop until we safeguard the online community,” he said.

Meanwhile, the FBI recovered approximately 6,000 missing children—a 25 percent increase from 2024, proving what determined federal action can achieve when ideology is removed from policing.

Espionage arrests also surged dramatically, up 40 percent from last year, as Patel cracked down on foreign intelligence networks operating illegally on American soil.

“We’re kicking them out of our networks, we’re bringing them to trial, and we’re putting them in prison,” Patel said.

This reversal in FBI performance stems directly from Patel’s aggressive restructuring of a bloated, Washington-centric bureaucracy.

When Patel arrived, nearly 12,000 agents were clustered near D.C. — an arrangement perfectly tailored for political games but disastrous for real policing.

Patel redeployed 1,000 more agents to the streets, empowering field offices and reinforcing the bureau’s operational muscle where it actually matters.

“The results speak for themselves,” he said, pointing to the culture shift his reforms ignited.

Field agents — often ignored under past leadership — have embraced the decentralized model, creating a revitalized, mission-focused FBI.

“That cultural change has been well received by the field, and that’s the only audience I care about,” Patel said pointedly. “I don’t care about what the media thinks.”