Chip reports on criminal justice from WBEZ’s bureau on Chicago’s West Side. His investigative and narrative reporting has earned dozens of local and national awards. He is a three-time winner of the Chicago Headline Club’s annual award for “best reporter” in broadcast radio.
Before Chip joined WBEZ in 2006, his base for three years was Bogotá, Colombia. He reported from conflict zones around that war-torn country and from several other Latin American nations. The reporting reached U.S. audiences through NPR, the BBC and daily newspapers including the Dallas Morning News and the Christian Science Monitor.
From 1995 to 2003, Chip focused on immigration and Latin America as editor of Connection to the Americas, winner of the 2003 Utne Independent Press Award for “general excellence” among newsletters nationwide.
Chip was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and raised in nearby Falcon Heights. He earned a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In Chicago, he lives with his partner and their daughter on the Northwest Side, where they founded the Humboldt Park Gators, an all-girls baseball team.
Chip Mitchell
Stories by Chip Mitchell
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As accusations swirl, Kim Foxx pulls her Conviction Integrity Unit chief off a big case
As head of the unit, Nancy Adduci reviews cases to make sure prosecutors got them right. Now her work in a cop killing case is under fire.
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Crime is on Chicagoans’ minds. Here’s how nine mayoral hopefuls say they would address it.
All together, candidates are offering more than 100 public safety promises, from traditional foot patrols to car-chasing drones.
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Chicago’s confrontational police union boss is facing a tough reelection challenger
Whether John Catanzara wins or loses, however, Chicago cops will be represented by a conservative, white man.
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Defense attorneys in a Chicago cop’s murder want prosecutors removed
Lawyers for the alleged getaway driver in Police Officer Clifton Lewis’s murder claim Cook County assistant state’s attorneys hid evidence.
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Jury awards CPD whistleblower Isaac Lambert nearly $1 million
The veteran detective was demoted for speaking out about a shooting of an unarmed teen by an off-duty officer in 2017.
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Cop-killing prosecution raises questions about Kim Foxx’s conviction integrity chief
That chief, Nancy Adduci, faces accusations she withheld ‘a mountain of evidence’ about the 2011 murder of Chicago officer Clifton Lewis.
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They’re not just handguns anymore — and they’re a growing problem
Increasingly, police are seizing ‘switches’ that convert handguns into illegal machine guns.
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Chicago City Council has few questions about the size of a proposed $2 billion police budget
Chicago aldermen are discussing the city’s proposed $2 billion dollar police budget for next year. The price tag is not raising many questions.
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The agency running a 988 call center in Chicago is trying to allay fears of police ties
The nonprofit known as C4 says it has received about 350 calls to the new suicide “lifeline” and hasn’t transferred any to cops.
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A Chicago Police trainer gets probation for shooting an unarmed teen driver
Officer Kevin Bunge, who taught cops when to use force, shot without provocation at two 19-year-olds who were sitting in their parked car.
