Oakland police chief credits extra officers with fewer deaths, more guns off street
OAKLAND — Following a stretch of deadly gun violence this summer, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said Tuesday the department over the past month brought shootings down by 25% and homicides by 10% from the same period a year ago.a 30-day strategy — which took effect Sept 26. — that sent more police to high-crime neighborhoodsOakland has seen nine gun-related deaths since late September, down from 17 in the 30 days prior.
“We’re going to have to arrest people,” he said. “When people commit violent crime in our city, we’re going to have to focus on apprehending them. When people use firearms in our community, we have to be relentless in our follow-up in order to apprehend them.” “There is not a data analysis expert on the planet who would tell you that you could use 30 days of data to an impact on anything,” Brooks said. “Less deaths, that’s great — there are probably a bunch of things at play there… if we have 12 months of consecutive decreases, I’ll eat my words.”
Police spokeswoman Kim Armstead did not immediately say which of the city’s neighborhoods, in particular, that Armstrong’s strategy targeted.