Mitchell D Sigal has over 28 years in law enforcement.  The last 16-years of his public safety career were at the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner (OCSD), as a Watch Commander/Supervising Deputy Coroner in the Coroner Division before retiring in March 2020. His law enforcement career began in 1987, where he was a Level I Reserve Police Officer for Newport Beach Police and later became a full time sworn Deputy Coroner for the Los Angeles County Coroner in 1989. Before coming to OCSD, Mitchell also spent two and half years as a special agent for the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His career assignments have included patrol, narcotics/money laundering, and over twenty-three years as a death investigator. He has been accepted as an expert in death investigation and the collection of evidence in the Los Angeles County Court system and has testified on several homicide and serial killer cases, specifically dealing with evidence.  He also holds a California Peace Officer and Standards Training (POST) Supervisory Certificate.  His recent educational training has led to Mitchell becoming a certified hypnotherapist with the goal to help those wishing to enter the law enforcement field or promotion work on reducing interview and test anxiety.

Mitchell’s teaching experience includes teaching a variety of classes to include Persuasive Communication; Effective Communication in a Death Investigation; Toxicology and Death Investigation; Arson and Fire related deaths; Roles of the Death Investigator; modules of the Institute of Criminal Investigation (ICI) Homicide course (Coroner and Trauma); and the Advance Field Evidence Technician course. The courses are taught for Orange County Sheriff, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Los Angeles County Probation, and the Center for Criminal Justice in Long Beach. Mitchell is also a lecturer at CSU Long Beach, teaching several forensic courses and Crime Scene Photography.

Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Biology from UC Irvine and a Masters of Forensic Science from National University in Los Angeles. Additional education includes the Brandman University Leadership program. He has also attended numerous hours of California POST and FEMA certified training in subjects including Interviewing and Interrogation; Mass Fatalities and Disaster Management, including Advanced Incident Commander Systems; Parolee contacts and Gang Awareness; Terrorism and Emergency Response; Racial Profiling; Child Abuse Investigations, Death Investigations; Fingerprinting; Crime Scene Photography; and Mandating Child Abuse Reporting.  Mitchell is a graduate of the POST Master Instructor Certification Course (MICC), class #9.

Mitchell is currently a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), International Association of Identification (IAI), International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IACME), Council of Forensic Science Educator and International Hypnosis Association.  He has authored journal articles on The Link Between Animal Abuse, Child Abuse, and Domestic Violence; co-authored The Teaching Love and Compassion (TLC) Program involving at-risk youth and shelter animals, and is a contributing author in a Criminal Justice Book.