OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell introduced he is stepping down after being on the job for lower than two years.
“I’m actually honored to be given this chance to function Oakland’s police chief,” Floyd Mitchell stated at his swearing-in within the Spring of 2024.
However 18 months later, Mitchell is asking it quits. He submitted a letter of intent to resign to town, efficient Dec. 5. Mitchell’s contract requires him to present a 60-day discover.
Mitchell will work with Mayor Barbara Lee over the following few weeks to establish an interim police chief.
He was employed by former Mayor Sheng Thao to exchange LeRonne Armstrong, who was fired in early 2023.
TIMELINE: Oakland has had 11 completely different police chiefs in 15 years
The 35-year police veteran was beforehand the chief of police in Lubbock, Texas.
“It has been an honor to serve the Oakland group, and I’m grateful for the assist I’ve acquired from the residents,” Chief Mitchell stated. “I am extremely happy with the women and men of this Division and the collaborative working relationships solid with the group and enterprise house owners to scale back crime. My dedication over the weeks forward is to assist guarantee a easy transition and proceed to maintain Oakland protected.”
In his farewell e mail to the police division, obtained by ABC7 Information, Mitchell wrote: “Deciding to resign was not a simple determination, nor was it made in haste. At the same time as I pen this e mail to every of you, I’m full of a fancy mixture of feelings.”
However e mail would not give a particular cause for his determination to depart.
Sergeant Huy Nguyen is president of the Oakland police union. He stated the police chief place has been a revolving door in Oakland.
MORE: Oakland police collaborating with NAACP to rent extra officers amid staffing disaster
“To be quantity 15 within the final 25 years, since I’ve been right here. Each time a chief takes the helm, it’s only a matter of time when it’ll happen. And that is the unhappy a part of the situation of the police division,” Nguyen stated.
The Metropolis of Oakland has pointed to a drop in violent crime this 12 months in comparison with final 12 months underneath Mitchell as a doable sign that issues are enhancing. However Nguyen argues that is not sufficient. He says attrition results in instability.
“However the true actuality is, we have now to self-evaluate ourselves as a metropolis about why have gone by way of so many police chiefs,” he stated. “The variety of police chiefs which can be out and in of this place makes it very troublesome to operate as an company, makes it very troublesome to observe that duties that must be completed.”
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee thanked Mitchell for his management. She says the latest discount in crime is a testomony Mitchell’s dedication to public security.
In assertion to ABC7 Information, she stated: “I need to thank Chief Mitchell for his devoted service to Oakland and his management throughout a crucial time for our metropolis. Below his tenure, we have now seen important reductions in crime — a testomony to his dedication to public security and the laborious work of our cops. I’m grateful for Chief Mitchell’s collaboration with our administration and his give attention to community-centered policing. The ladies and men of the Oakland Police Division have my full assist as we work collectively to make sure a easy transition and proceed constructing on the progress we have made for Oakland’s residents.”
Oakland Councilmember Zac Unger stated he is dissatisfied to see Mitchell depart.
“I feel Chief Mitchell was all the time very clear about what he wanted to do to be able to make town protected. He did not soft-peddle something. However he was fairly clear with us — on the council — about the necessity to employees up the division. And I feel that’s one thing we might want to frequently work on,” Unger stated.
The Oakland Police Fee responded with an announcement. Chair Ricardo Garcia-Acosta wrote: “We should additionally categorical our shared disappointment, as important progress was being made in restoring belief and embracing oversight by way of crafting good coverage, eradicating pointless administrative burdens and dealing towards standardizing a progressive self-discipline course of.”
In an announcement to ABC7 Information, Oakland Metropolis Councilmember Janani Ramachandran stated deciding on a brand new police chief shouldn’t be simple and is asking for transparency within the choice course of.
Does Mitchell’s resignation threat reputational injury for the OPD and town?
Response was pouring in from throughout the East Bay Wednesday after Mitchell introduced his impending resignation.
“I feel his expectation was for a division that was about to show round, and what he discovered was a division that was falling aside,” stated ABC7 Information insider Phil Matier.
Matier stated he wasn’t shocked by Mitchell’s announcement.
OPD has been tormented by quite a few scandals, and the division has been underneath federal oversight for about 25 years.
John Burris is a civil rights lawyer, whose case introduced the division underneath that supervision.
MORE: Oakland goes 25 days with out a murder in Could, June as crime numbers drop
He believes Mitchell struggled to guide OPD underneath these parameters.
“The court docket gave him so many directions that he needed to take over the inner affairs sections and have it report on to him, which isn’t one thing he was accustomed to doing,” Burris stated.
However main the Oakland police shouldn’t be for the timid, say many former workers.
“It is a improbable metropolis. It is an extremely great police division, but it surely virtually feels abused,” stated Anne Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick was OPD’s chief from 2017 till she was fired in 2020. She sued and received a case for wrongful termination.
MORE: New reviews recommend Oakland PD time beyond regulation has value metropolis $236 million since 2008
Kirkpatrick says OPD chiefs face pressures from town and different gamers, which make the job extraordinarily troublesome.
“I feel that, politically, they don’t deal with the police division nicely. I don’t assume that the group or the politics of town helps the police division as an entire,” she stated.
Past the challenges in main the division, consultants say shedding one other chief damages the fame of the group and the group it serves.
Activist Cat Brooks says the division wants a head who will maintain its officers accountable.
“I desire a police chief that wishes to work himself out of a job. I desire a police chief that really understands that as a lot as they’re captivated with holding their group protected, the way in which we do it would not really do this,” Brooks stated.
Matier says whoever Mitchell’s interim alternative is will possible come from inside OPD.
“That particular person will most likely maintain that job for a 12 months. That can give the police fee time to do a seek for a alternative. It’s going to most likely take that lengthy, as a result of they will have hearings all over, but it surely additionally will give the mayor a 12 months, and so she won’t need to be confronted with selecting a brand new chief till after subsequent 12 months’s election,” Matier stated.
Copyright © 2025 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
