Oakland’s Police Chief Is Resigning After Just a Year and a Half

Oakland’s police chief is stepping down, the city announced Wednesday.

Floyd Mitchell, who was appointed police chief by then-Mayor Sheng Thao last year and started the job that May, said he intends to resign Dec. 5. His departure, after a year and a half, marks at least the 10th leadership change in the department over the last decade.

“It has been an honor to serve the Oakland community, and I am grateful for the support I’ve received from the residents,” Mitchell said in a statement. “I’m incredibly proud of the men and women of this Department and the collaborative working relationships forged with the community and business owners to reduce crime.”

The news comes on the heels of Mayor Barbara Lee’s first State of the City address on Tuesday night, where she praised Mitchell for steep drops in crime during his tenure.

In the first six months of this year, Oakland saw a 29% reduction in violent crimes compared with 2024, according to city data. Burglary dropped 19% and motor vehicle theft declined 45% in the same period.

“This is the work of Chief Mitchell and the [Oakland Police Department] officers, dispatchers, community ambassadors and violence prevention staff who put themselves on the line every single day,” Lee said.

The trend in Oakland mirrors cities across the state, where violent crime rates are falling after a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic. Property crime rates have also dropped sharply in San Francisco over the past two years.

It’s unclear why Mitchell, whose contract was set to last three years, is choosing to resign.

While the announcement was abrupt, Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, who has helped oversee OPD’s decades-long reform process, said it didn’t come as a surprise.

“I fully expected it to occur sooner than later,” he told KQED. “I never was under the impression that it was a job that he was comfortable with, and once the new mayor was appointed, I thought it might be time for him to move on.”

Burris said Oakland’s chief has to respond to a lot of interests, including the mayor, city administrator, police commission and rank-and-file officers, creating a dynamic he said might have differed from Mitchell’s previous departments. Before leading OPD, Mitchell was chief in both Lubbock and Temple, Texas, and served as an officer for 25 years in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Not being fully in charge, I think, was problematic,” Burris said.

Like other chiefs who have come from out of state, Mitchell has also had to learn to navigate another invested party in OPD’s orbit: Northern California’s federal district court.

In 2003, the department settled a federal police misconduct case with more than 100 people who sued after they were beaten and kidnapped by a group of officers known as the “Riders” years prior. Among the remedies they were awarded was a promise that the department would make a number of reforms it is still working to comply with today.

Burris, who brought the case and still helps oversee OPD’s progress toward achieving the reforms, said “it was not something that [Mitchell] was aggressively interested in working toward.”

“I didn’t think he understood the significance of the various reforms that we had agreed to and why they were important,” Burris said. “I think he was something he dealt with because he had to do it, and so I didn’t think he’s a willing participant in that process, a reluctant participant.”

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association said in a statement on Wednesday that its members were “deeply concerned” by Mitchell’s resignation.

“The rank-and-file members of this department are questioning whether certain anti-law enforcement factions of the community were ready or open to his honesty, dedication and support of public safety,” President Huy Nguyen said in a statement.

The city said that over the next few weeks, Mitchell will work closely with Lee and City Administrator Jestin Johnson to choose an interim chief.

KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report.