Oakland police are doubling down on a tough-on-crime plan. Some activists are skeptical

It was late September, and to some, Oakland seemed a city on the brink.

Four people had been shot dead over a 24-hour span, including a shooting outside City Hall that briefly interrupted a council meeting.

By the end of the week, Oakland would record eight killings, marking the city's deadliest seven-day stretch this year.

The following Tuesday, Sept. 27, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong called an all-hands meeting and hatched a plan. Over the next four weeks, the department would deploy "all available resources throughout the city in a coordinated effort to enforce crimes associated with gun violence," according to a news release.

Now police are doubling down.

In a news conference last week, Armstrong said what was initially a 30-day crime plan would be extended for another month.

"I challenged my command staff to bring a different approach to addressing gun violence, with the goal of making an impact on public safety immediately," he said. "I think just accepting the fact that we are going to have to arrest people, that when people commit violent crime in our city, we're going to have to focus on apprehending