He sat down with ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Anser Hassan to detail his plans as chief.
"The diversity of this community. The stability of this community. The department has a very good reputation," Mitchell said, listing some of the reasons he joined the Fremont Police Department as its new chief.
Mitchell, who has been on the job for five weeks, is already studying data to prioritize what needs to be done.
"One of the things that jumps off the page is traffic safety," Mitchell said.
MORE: New Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell formally introduced by Mayor Sheng Thao
Chief Mitchel said there were seven traffic-related fatalities last year. So far this year, the city has already recorded five deaths. He has expanded the traffic unit in hopes of changing driving habits.
"Working with our patrol officers to give them the authority to really go after traffic violators," he said. "We need to change that culture in regard to driving safety in Fremont."
Fremont was voted the happiest city in the United States seven years in a row. It boasts low crime rates, especially compared with other cities of similar size. But Mitchell said Fremont still struggles with some violent crime, high rates of property crime and, like many Bay Area cities, organized retail theft.
"You go where the data takes you. If the data takes you into a certain neighborhood or directs you toward a specific subject, you put your resources toward that," he said.
Chief Mitchell praised diversity as one of Fremont's strengths, but said it also presents challenges.
MORE: Fremont named safest city in Bay Area, 30th in nation
Fremont is home to one of the largest Afghan communities in the United States. Last November, ICE conducted door knocks in one of the city's predominantly Afghan neighborhoods. Mitchell said Fremont is a sanctuary city and will defend all its residents.
"We are on the right path. But some of the actions we have seen occur across the United States, at the hands of ICE, have set law enforcement back quite a bit. And it's going to take strong leadership in municipal departments to mend those things," Mitchell said. "What has occurred here these last two years, I think, has set all the work law enforcement has done over the last two decades back two decades."
The City of Fremont praised Mitchell for his "integrity, accountability and fairness" in announcing his hiring.
Fremont is launching a real-time information center next week and is working on a computer-aided dispatch and records management system. Mitchell said the goal is transparency.
"To help us be more transparent and get real-time data out to our community in regard to where we are seeing crime spikes. Then that allows us to direct our resources, and people know, 'Hey, this is why we are over here, because the data has led us over here for this specific issue,'" Mitchell said.