Three people are in custody after an armed robbery on Monday near 90th Avenue and Birch Street in East Oakland, with police crediting a helicopter assist for helping officers quickly track down the suspects. Oakland Police Department Crime Reduction Team officers took all three into custody and recovered a firearm along with stolen property from the scene.
According to the Oakland Police Dept., the arrests followed an armed robbery that occurred on Monday near the intersection. Officers received assistance from an East Bay Regional Park District helicopter as they moved to locate and detain the suspects. The aircraft is part of EBRPD's Air Support Unit, which flies two Eurocopter AS350 AStar helicopters — call signs Eagle 6 and Eagle 7 — out of Hayward Executive Airport and regularly acts as a regional force multiplier for local departments like OPD during tactical pursuits and searches, according to Vertical Magazine.
OPD Crime Reduction Team officers arrested three individuals following an armed robbery on Aug. 17 near 90th Ave. & Birch St.
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) August 21, 2026
With assistance from the EBRPD helicopter, officers took all three into custody and recovered a firearm and stolen property.https://t.co/rwkEF5jxCl pic.twitter.com/qqdxpyQiUo
A Familiar Tactic in a Targeted Corridor
The intersection sits within East Oakland's Castlemont corridor, part of OPD's Area 6, an area that hosts community gatherings like the annual East Oakland Futures Fest while also remaining a primary focal point for targeted crime suppression efforts, per the Twin Oaks Insider. OPD's Crime Reduction Teams are specialized field units assigned to geographic divisions and tasked with targeted surveillance, decoy operations, and proactive violence-suppression efforts against open-air drug markets and violent street crime, per background from the City of Oakland.
This is not the first time CRT officers have used airborne backup to close out an operation just blocks away. In January, OPD's CRT-East unit conducted a similar proactive investigation on the neighboring 1700 block of 89th Avenue, using aerial support from OPD's own ARGUS helicopter to arrest three suspects and recover loaded handguns fitted with extended and drum magazines — an operation Hoodline covered in a gun sweep just blocks away. Similar CRT operations recovering firearms in East Oakland have continued through the spring and summer, including stops detailed in Hoodline's coverage of a gun sweep in two street stops and a joint Ceasefire operation on Linden Street.
Part of a Broader Citywide Crime Decline
The arrest comes amid a marked drop in reported robberies across Oakland. Department statistics released in April showed reported robberies fell 30%, from 537 to 374, during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, alongside a 22% overall drop in violent crime. That followed an even steeper decline in the first half of 2025, when the City of Oakland reported robberies had fallen 41% and overall violent crime had dropped 29% compared to the same period in 2024.
OPD also reported recovering more than 310 firearms during the first three months of 2026 as part of an ongoing 90-day crime reduction strategy coordinated with federal agencies including the FBI, ATF, and DEA. Since 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom has maintained a state crime-suppression deployment in Oakland, sending California Highway Patrol officers to assist local police in targeting illegal firearms, vehicle thefts, and violent crime corridors, according to the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Statewide, the Public Policy Institute of California has found that California's overall violent crime rate dropped 5.3% in 2024 following a pandemic-era surge, with firearm-involved robberies declining nearly 14% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
What Comes Next
Robbery under California Penal Code Section 211 is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison, and the use of a firearm during the offense can trigger mandatory sentencing enhancements under the state's so-called 10-20-Life law, which can add 10 years to life in prison, according to the Shouse Law Group. It remains unclear whether the firearm recovered near 90th Avenue and Birch Street was illegally modified, and OPD's announcement did not include the identities, ages, or formal charges for the three people arrested. Those details would typically follow from the Alameda County District Attorney's Office as the case moves forward.
