Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on Wednesdsay will formally introduce the city’s new police chief, Floyd Mitchell, who faces a tall task leading a department that has had a revolving door of top cops and remains under federal oversight.
The Oakland Police Department has had 12 chiefs in the past 20 years and is still operating under a federal monitor because of The Riders scandal from more than two decades ago.
Mitchell, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, has more than 30 years experience in law enforcement, including 25 years with the Kansas City Police Department. He was most recently chief of police in Lubbock, Texas for four years.
The president of the Lubbock Professional Police Association recently told NBC Bay Area the union’s relationship with Mitchell was “like any other, it had its ups and downs.”
Mitchell resigned as Lubbock’s chief last September, and a reason was never disclosed. But the department did come under fire over abandoned 911 calls under his tenure.
Robert Beamon, who worked alongside Mitchell as the department chaplain in Temple, Texas, told NBC Bay Area Mitchell had a positive impact as Temple’s first black chief of police.
Mitchell still has to clear certain state requirements, including a test. The mayor says that process is underway.
Mitchell’s appointment follows more than a year of no permanent police chief in Oakland. Thao fired Chief LeRonne Armstrong in February 2023, weeks before the department would have completed its federal oversight program after 20 years.
Thao will introduce Mitchell during a 1 p.m. news conference at City Hall.
