MEMPHIS, Tenn. – President Donald Trump visited Memphis Monday to highlight the work of the Memphis Safe Task Force, praising its impact on crime and calling the city “almost a crime-free city.”

“Memphis is almost a crime-free city,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion focused on the task force’s accomplishments.

The White House said since the task force arrived in Memphis last fall, it has made more than 7,000 arrests, picked up thousands of outstanding warrants, and seized nearly 1,200 firearms.

But local leaders said those numbers only tell part of the story.

Just this weekend, Memphis Police Department officers responded to multiple shootings across the city, including two separate incidents downtown in the same night.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young said while the city is seeing progress, the work to reduce crime is far from finished.

“My overarching message is that Memphis is moving in the right direction. That crime has been reduced in our community, but we’re still not where we need to be,” Young said.

The mayor pointed to declining crime numbers but acknowledged Memphis continues to face real challenges.

“And that’s something that we as a city should be proud of,” Young said. “But we also know that just last year there were over 225 families that lost a loved one as a result of a homicide. And so we know that we can’t rest on our laurels.”

Some community leaders said the discussion about the task force should also include what was happening in Memphis before it arrived.

Pastor Earl Fisher said many elected officials had already pointed to crime trends moving downward prior to the federal deployment.

“I think Mayor Young has spoken to this,” Fisher said. “A lot of the elected officials have spoken to the fact that crime was already trending downward before this task force ever showed up.”

Fisher also questioned whether the public has been given enough information about the arrests credited to the task force.

“We’ve seen a whole lot of people reach across the aisle and come back empty-handed,” Fisher said. “And I think in this case it’s hard for us to get a strong sense of what the substantial impact is. But we definitely know that Trump is being hyperbolic about what the impact is.”

According to the mayor, Memphis had already experienced about a 25% reduction in crime compared to 2023 levels before the federal task force arrived.

Young said the additional federal resources may have helped amplify local law enforcement efforts, but the work to reduce crime had already been underway.

“My overarching message is that Memphis is moving in the right direction,” Young said. “That crime has been reduced in our community, but we’re still not where we need to be. And that this city, our police department, and partners, we’re all working to put programs and initiatives in place to make sure that we’re continuing to drive down crime.”

City leaders said the next major question will be whether Memphis can maintain those trends once the federal task force eventually leaves.

So far, Mayor Young said the city has not been given a timeline for how long the Memphis Safe Task Force will remain in Memphis.