Chitwood is the son of Mike Chitwood Sr., Chitwood Sr began his law-enforcement career as a Philadelphia police officer in 1964 and was one of Philadelphia’s most highly decorated officers. He’s served as police chief in Middletown, Bucks County and Portland, Maine..[4][3] Chitwood Jr. served as a lieutenant in the Philadelphia Police Department and joined the Daytona Beach Police Department as police chief in 2006, where he worked for ten years until he was elected Volusia County sheriff in 2016. He subsequently assumed office in 2017.[4][3][5]
Chitwood began implementing reformist measures in Volusia County in January 2017. Since then, he implemented classes on police bias and de-escalation techniques. He also deemphasized weapon proficiency in the training of new recruits and gave "tactical de-escalation" medals to deputies who used non-violent tactics to resolve conflict.[4][6] According to NBC, the frequency of deputies' use-of-force in the county fell from 122 to 65 between 2017 and 2019.[7] During the same period, the annual number of arrests fell to 9,370, representing a 30% decrease.[8]
In 2020, Chitwood implemented a crisis intervention training for new officers in Volusia County with the goal of decreasing use-of-force and "warrior mentality" in police operations. The project was influenced by Scottish police reform group Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).[7][8][9]
In the same period, he equipped detectives and the SWAT team of Volusia County with body cameras. In his response to a survey conducted by PERF, he advocated for an extended role of police outside law-enforcement in order to increase public trust in police officers.[10]
Early in 2023, following a spike of antisemitic activity in Florida, with anti-Jewish banners being held by neo-Nazi group Goyim Defense League at the Daytona International Speedway, Chitwood began addressing the group on press conferences and social media.[11][12][3][13]
In a February news conference, he called the Goyim Defense League "a radical group of scumbags" and announced plans to erect a billboard in Georgia featuring one of its members' mugshot. He also called neo-Nazi activist Jon Minadeo, who had distributed antisemitic flyers in the state and called a Black police officer a "nigger" in West Palm, a "failed actor, failed rapper and failed dishwasher". Following Chitwood's statements on the group, members of Goyim Defense League started distributing flyers displaying a picture of Chitwood wearing a bikini top. The picture was originally taken at a Daytona beach Jokey fashion show to raise money to combat breast cancer.[11][3]
Subsequently, police agencies started investigating anonymous death threats made against Chitwood on 4chan. The investigations initially resulted in the arrests of three people outside the state of Florida, one of whom was in possession of firearms and ammunition.[11][3] In late 2023, an Alaskan double-murder suspect was indicted by a grand jury after allegedly threatening to "blind and kill" Chitwood.[14][15] In total, six men have been arrested in 2023 over alleged threats directed at the sheriff.[16]
