Former OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell refused to sit down with the press. Will the next chief be more accessible?

Leaders of big government agencies juggle many responsibilities, but chief among them is being the face and voice of their organization. And one important way leaders communicate with the public is through lengthy one-on-one interviews with reporters.

These kinds of interviews differ fundamentally from most other interactions between government officials and the media. Press conferences, brief phone interviews, and emailed questions are typically tied to specific developments or breaking news. By contrast, an in-depth interview is an open-ended conversation that allows a journalist to press a public official with tough questions and pursue immediate follow-ups when answers fall short or require clarification. Interviews are an indispensable tool for helping the public understand who leaders are, what they value, what they aim to achieve, and how they account for their record.

Floyd Mitchell served as the chief of the Oakland Police Department for 19 months but never agreed to sit down for a media interview, except once, according to a review of published news stories and segments.

Mitchell’s record of not talking to the media is unusual. While still a candidate for the job in 2024, he signaled that he would prioritize communication, telling the Police Commission, the civilian-run watchdog group that oversees OPD, he was committed to working with the community and “providing regular access” to discuss public safety concerns.

Other local public safety leaders routinely grant interviews with the media. The Oaklandside has done 90-minute, one-on-one interviews with Holly Joshi, chief of the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, and Fire Chief Damon Covington. In 2024, we interviewed Pamela Price, who was at the time the county’s embattled district attorney facing a recall campaign. We’ve also done a slew of sit-down interviews with Oakland’s elected leaders. Police chiefs in other cities also typically do one-on-one interviews with reporters, including in Alameda, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Stockton. Former OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong also granted several sit-down interviews during his tenure.

OPD confirmed to The Oaklandside that Mitchell did not, except in one instance, make himself available to the press for in-depth interviews while leading the department.

“I believe Chief Mitchell did only one sit-down interview,” a department spokesperson told us in an email.

When we asked OPD to send a link to the resulting coverage of the single interview he granted, OPD sent us a San Francisco Chronicle article from May 2025, but it focused on police overtime and the city budget rather than Mitchell himself or his wider record running the department.

The only other one-on-one interview we could find was a May 2024 segment that aired on ABC 7 about Mitchell’s first day on the job, but this, too, was very limited in terms of the subjects it covered and the number of questions the reporter asked.

While he was chief, The Oaklandside contacted OPD’s media team multiple times to request a sit-down interview.

We mostly heard crickets.

The first time was in September 2024, four months after he started the job. In response, OPD wrote: “The Chief is not available for one-on-one interviews at this time. When he is, we will add you to the list of reporters considered for these discussions with all media outlets.”

We followed up in June 2025 with the same request, but never received a response.

In September 2025, we asked again for a sit-down interview with Mitchell. OPD never replied.

We recently asked OPD why Mitchell didn’t agree to a one-on-one interview with us. The department didn’t answer. OPD did tell us that Mitchell spoke to groups of reporters at 13 press conferences.

Attempts to contact Mitchell for this story were unsuccessful.

Transparency’s role in selecting a new police chief

Assistant Chief James Beere is currently leading OPD while the search for the department’s next permanent chief is underway. The process is still in its infancy, with the Police Commission, the mayor, and the city attorney working to secure a search firm for candidates, said Ricardo Garcia-Acosta, chair of the Police Commission. He says the search will be “ramping up” over the next few months.

With OPD now in its 23rd year of federal court oversight, and with the ongoing tensions between the commission, OPD, and the public, Garcia-Acosta said he understands why police chiefs might proceed with caution when it comes to speaking with the press.

“It’s understandable that anybody like Chief Mitchell in a new position would be closely guarded with information and with the media,” he said. “But our hope is that, at some point, we could get to a place where they’re comfortable and able to be a beacon of transparency.”

When we asked Mayor Barbara Lee’s office about Mitchell’s lack of communication with the press and whether she thinks the next chief should be more receptive to speaking with the media, we received an emailed statement saying she will prioritize candidates who can build trust between police officers and communities.

“Building that trust requires transparency and open communication with the public,” said the mayor.

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