Ailen Mitchell joined the Atlanta Police Department in 2006. After graduating from the Atlanta Police Academy, he was assigned to Zone 4 (Southwest Atlanta). At the rank of officer, Ailen Mitchell worked in various assignments such as the Field Investigations Team, the Gang Unit, and the Red Dog Unit. Ailen Mitchell was also a field training officer prior to becoming a Detective.

In 2012, Ailen Mitchell was appointed to Detective, where he worked on the Auto Theft Task Force. In 2014, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. At the rank of Sergeant, he supervised in various assignments, including Crime Suppression, Criminal Investigations, and the Human Resources/Personnel Unit.

In 2018, he was promoted to Lieutenant, where he worked as a Zone 2 Criminal Investigations Unit Commander, the Background and Recruitment Unit Commander, and later the S.W.A.T Team Commander.
In 2020, he was appointed to Captain. At the rank of Captain, he worked in Field Operations Division Investigations and in Zone 2 (Northeast Atlanta) as the Assistant Zone Commander.

In 2021, as the Assistant Zone 2 Commander. Ailen help lead the men and women of Zone 2. The Zone 2 Team won the City of Atlanta’s coveted Crime Reduction Award for achieving the greatest reduction of crime among all six zones in the City of Atlanta. Ailen Mitchell was appointed to the rank of Major at the end of 2021, where he was assigned to the Code Enforcement Section. 
 
In the Spring of 2022, Ailen Mitchell returned to Zone 2 as the Commander. The Zone 2 team once again won the coveted crime reduction award for the second year in a row. Zone 2 finished down -14% in crime for 2022. Ailen Mitchell was able to lead the men and women of Zone 2 to a third consecutive year of crime reduction, finishing down in crime -3% in 2023. Also in 2023, Ailen Mitchell won the Atlanta Police Department’s Sworn Commander of the Year Award. In November 2023, Ailen Mitchell was appointed by the 83rd Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, to serve on the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council as one of the 22 voting members.

Major Mitchell is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Senior Management Institute For Police (SMIP) Session 88. He is an also a graduate of the Atlanta Police Leadership Institute Tier 5, where he traveled to Israel as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program. He is also a recipient of the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award. Major Mitchell is a certified Georgia P.O.S.T instructor. Major Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Science with a concentration in Psychology from Penn State University and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Criminal Justice Administration from Georgia State University.