A new survey of America’s big-city mayors shows they know crime remains a problem for them — and they want President Donald Trump to help solve it, instead of just ordering up the National Guard.
Nearly six in 10 mayors called juvenile crime “serious or very serious” in the nonpartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors’ survey of 60 city leaders, shared first with POLITICO. They said most of those offenses involve car and retail theft and firearms.
But they also said violent crime decreased in their cities during the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year. Many credited their implementation of community policing practices and use of new technology with the drops.
The report, released as the group’s leadership gathers on Thursday in Oklahoma City, comes as Republicans are pressing their advantage on crime ahead of next year’s midterms. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday showed 40 percent of respondents believe Republicans have a better plan on crime.
Trump recognizes the public posture as he sends National Guard into cities he claims are riddled with crime and he fights to keep Republicans in power next year.
“While violent crime is down in a very high proportion of the survey, cities and mayors and police departments have implemented many successful initiatives that have helped to achieve this, challenges remain and there is more work to do,” said Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director of the group.
Cochran called for a “new partnership” between the Trump administration and Congress in supporting local police departments to reduce crime. He cited as a model for local and federal partnership the group’s work with former President Bill Clinton’s administration that resulted in several landmark pieces of legislation, like the 1994 crime bill and the Brady Bill imposing handgun restrictions.
But American politics have starkly shifted since then. Bipartisan agreement on any issue is rare – and Trump has been far less receptive to working with Democratic mayors than his predecessors. Even though national data shows a drop in violent crime, Trump has cast the issue as an epidemic, dispatched the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington and threatened to send troops into Chicago and Baltimore.
When asked an open-ended question about which federal partnerships would be helpful, not a single mayor named the National Guard. Instead, about three-quarters called for increased support from federal agencies, including the FBI, that track drug trafficking, conduct investigations of high-level crimes and trace guns.
And the survey also took a swipe at the White House’s efforts to pare back federal spending. About 30 percent of the surveyed mayors reported federal grants were terminated or cut this year. But mayors said they need more funding: 97 percent of those surveyed requested more grants to purchase police technology and other equipment, and nearly as many asked for funding for other crime prevention efforts and mental health services.
Mayors said that the most effective crime reduction strategies for juvenile offense are mentoring assistance, along with violence intervention programs. Seven in 10 of the city leaders said they do not have adequate funding for youth programs.
