Oakland's 30-Day Crackdown on Violence Seems to Be Working. Here's How.

The Oakland police chief made an announcement Tuesday with a welcomed update - the department's 30-day crackdown on violence is working.

"Less people have lost their lives as a result of this," Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said during a press conference.

It's been a month since the launch of an all-hands-on-deck approach to addressing gun violence and Armstrong said there's been less shootings, more guns being taken off the street and more lives saved.

"I hope it feels a little bit better and it may not feel that way today, but we are going to keep doing our best to keep people off the street that are driving violent crimes so people can feel safe in our city," he said.

4 weeks after Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong laid out a 30 day plan to combat gun violence, he says shootings and homicides are down. OPD will extend the plan for another 30 days. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/0b2qX2rhjS

— Velena Jones (@velenajones) October 25, 2022

But, what exactly is working?

The chief said partnerships with ATF have helped get 82 firearms - including so-called ghost guns - off the street. More officers on patrol have led to 120 arrests and partnerships with the county and FBI are helping with homicide investigations and keeping dangerous people behind bars.

All those efforts will now be extending for another month.

"When people use firearms in our community, we have to be relentless in our follow up in order to apprehend them and that is really what we have been doing," Armstrong explained.

In the last month there have been nine homicides including one Monday. That number is compared to 17 murders the month before.

In addition, there have been 1,235 firearms recovered this year compared to 1,199 last year.

Violence interrupters explain while crime wont end overnight, they can see the impacts.

"We have had more townhall meetings where the community is being back engaged, so his strategy has really impacted the city and awaken a lot of people," said Nina Carter with Youth Alive.

Chief Armstrong said more help is on the way as the department is adding officers to their criminal investigation unit along with two dozen new graduates joining the department this week. That amount plus 15 more officers that will be added at the end of this year through Department of Justice funds will bring the total number of officers to 700 after sever understaffing.

Community members hope this will be a lasting change.

"It gives me light and it gives me hope where we can begin to see kids outside, riding their bikes, the parks back full and you know, being able to have safe havens," Carter said.