Jews in the Land of Disney Sheriff Mike Chitwood – 'Batman' of the Volusia County police department

During the 2023 Daytona 500 race, a group of Nazi wannabees called the Goyim Defense League displayed antisemitic messages from the “Welcome to Daytona Beach” walkway, drawing attention to themselves standing on the bridge, waving to cars passing below. They also projected vile antisemitic messages on the Daytona International Speedway façade.

Shortly after this event, residents in Ormond Beach awoke to find plastic baggies by their front doors, which held wood chips that were supposed to represent the fuel used to gas the Jews along with printed messages spewing antisemitic tropes.

A news conference in response to the antisemitic events was called by Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the duly elected sheriff of Volusia County. He stood up and said, “When you’re trying to crush a radical group of cowardly scumbags, unity and sunshine destroy it.”

He went onto say, “These scumbags came to the wrong county! We have unity in this county, and we stand beside one another, and we stand beside our Jewish neighbors! We are not going to tolerate this.”

That day, the people in the room represented not only the Jewish community, but leaders of all faiths, police chiefs from an array of departments, and political leaders standing beside their Jewish neighbors and represented the unity Chitwood was referring to.

He then showed a video of the Goyim Defense League taunting Jews in front of the Chabad of South Orlando the day before they appeared in front of the Daytona International Speedway. By showing and exposing the criminal records of the members of this group, it was shining a light on the Goyim Defense League.

During the press conference, Chitwood announced that he had received numerous threats on his life. His response to these intimidating statements was very clear. He said, “It’s an honor to be on their hit list,” and he challenged the people who threatened to put a bullet in the back of his head among other intimidating statements was, “Go for It! You came to the wrong county, and I’m honored to be on your hit list. It’s an honor to be sought after from a bunch of punk thugs like you. That’s my personal message to you.” The applause in the room was thunderous.

Later, his family was threatened, including his father and his daughters.

Who is Sheriff Mike Chitwood?

Born and raised in South Philadelphia, Chitwood’s father worked 20 years with the Philadelphia Police Department. “My father went on to be a police chief in a small township outside Philadelphia for four years until he took a job as the police chief of Portland, Maine. After spending 20 years there he came back to become the superintendent of the Upper Darby Police Department for another 15 years until his retirement in 2019.

“When I was younger, my father was my hero. But as I got into my teens, like many boys with their dads, I was exerting my independence and I fought against the control he had over my life. The last thing I wanted to do was pursue the career path my father had taken.”

Chitwood attended an all-boys Catholic High School, St. Josephs Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At that time, Chitwood wanted to be an American history teacher with a desire to coach baseball and basketball.

After graduating from high school, Chitwood attended West Chester College to pursue teaching, but after his first year he dropped out. He remembered his father telling him he would have to get a job and move out of their house.

He began working full time on the docks at the Packer Marine Terminal on the banks of the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. On the weekends he worked at his grandfather’s fruit and produce stand.

After marriage and having children at a young age, Chitwood had to grow up fast and realized, “Although the money from work was good, I couldn’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I reevaluated my life and my father’s career was something that seemed like a good way of make a living.”

He enrolled in the Philadelphia Police Academy and has never looked back. Chitwood said he loved training in the police academy, and that love for policing has never waned.

His first assignment was walking the beat patrolling the subway. “Back then, in the 1980s, AIDS and hepatitis was prevalent, as well as homelessness. I had to learn how to interact with the citizens on my beat in order to do my job and quite frankly, survive. I quickly learned that much of what you encounter as a police officer is not taught at the Academy. How do you deal with a mentally ill person and get them the help that they need? Putting handcuffs on them in most cases wasn’t the right thing to do. Walking the beat on patrol gives you a unique perspective, you get to know the businesses and their owners, people stop you to ask directions, you’re meeting people from all walks of life and you help them in many different ways. Of course, your presence deters the criminal but when something illegal happens your training comes into play.”

From “underground into the light”

“After my first promotion I came out from underground into the light, into the fresh air of the sixth district, Center City, Philadelphia.” His next promotion was to a patrol car; then a project car and was assigned his first partner, Robert Smith. “Smith was a combat Vietnam Veteran, tough as nails and a great cop. We worked together for almost four years and together we were Batman and Robin, with over two dozen commendations during our time together.”

In 1993 he was promoted into the narcotics division in West Philadelphia. Sixteen months later, in 1996, he made detective, he was then promoted to the rank of sargent in 1997. Chitwood was a sargent for approximately four years, learning how to work with and supervise his fellow police officers.

Chitwood was promoted in 2000 to lieutenant, overseeing a platoon of 40 officers. He was assigned to the CompStat division, which did computerized analysis of the crimes committed in the Philadelphia area. “If we discovered that nine car break-ins occurred in an area, CompStat would identify the trend and deploy the proper resources to that area.”

With the development of computer technology, CompStat shifted policing from a more reactive type of policing, responding to crimes already committed, to being proactive by focusing on trends and prevention.

After working in CompStat for a short stint, he was selected to go to the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia to attend a 10-week training program. Chitwood said the training program was comprehensive and memorable.

His next move was to a Special Investigation Unit which focused on high profile violent crime. He did this for close to four years and in 2004 he became a homicide detective working in the Philadelphia Homicide Division.

After almost four years as a homicide detective, Chitwood proudly said that gun seizures went up and crime went down 30 percent during his time there.

After 18 years he was getting bored. He wondered what it would be like to move to police chief and, like his father, he followed that path.

Chitwood took a police chief job in Shawnee, Oklahoma. How does a cop from Philadelphia transition to a 30-person police force in the Midwest?

“It was a great experience. I worked closely with the Shawnee tribe who operated a casino, which brought its own problems. There was a tremendous amount of poverty, particularly across the tracks in what they called “Black Town,” a population who lived in abject poverty. “Crime is crime and policing in Oklahoma, although there were many cultural differences from Philadelphia, was the same.

A little over a year later, in 2006, Chitwood received a call from a friend who told him that Daytona Beach was looking for a new police chief. Chitwood was ready to come back east, and Daytona Beach wasn’t a bad place to be.

In the 10 years that Chitwood was chief, the force grew from 60 to 260 strong. He implemented many changes, such as a “Platoon System,” to its structure. He was also the first to bring body cameras to the force.

Chitwood believes in training hard and implemented his own training programs, which have yielded positive changes. De-escalation was one of those programs, which is necessary to help officers deal with the mental health crises in communities all over the country. He made sure the department had the best equipment, introduced a bike patrol, implemented CompStat and began outsourcing DNA, changes that were instrumental in bringing crime down to historic lows in Daytona Beach.

After 10 years of working in Daytona Beach, Chitwood decided to run in the 2016 election for sheriff of Volusia County. He was sworn in January 2017, served his first term and ran unopposed in the 2020 election. At 60, Chitwood has new dragons to slay. He’s seeking re-election in 2024, going for a third term in office in the 2024 election as an Independent, against a Republican candidate, James L. Powers.

A message on Sheriffs Chitwood’s website, says it all;

“As Sheriff, my priorities will include combatting juvenile crime, protecting seniors, strengthening neighborhoods, expanding community outreach efforts and maintaining open lines of communication. I also will place a high priority on encouraging innovation and creativity in the workplace. To be successful, all of this requires strong bonds of partnership with the community and everyone working together.

For those who don’t know me, I’m not one to spend all of my time sitting behind a desk. Expect to see me out and about in the community, responding to scenes, meeting with citizens and working for you.”

Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the Jewish Community Thanks You! You are our hero, and we will support you in all your endeavors.

Baruch Hashem.