New Fremont Police Chief Outlines Plan
- Fremont Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said he is expanding traffic enforcement and visible patrols after five traffic deaths this year and continued complaints about theft. - Mitchell, hired in March after leaving Oakland, said Fremont had seven traffic-related fatalities in 2025 and is launching a real-time information center. - The push builds on Fremont’s 2024-2027 police plan and Vision Zero traffic strategy. (fremontpolice.gov)
Fremont Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said he is reshaping patrols around traffic deaths, property crime and public trust in his first weeks on the job. (abc7news.com) Mitchell told ABC7 that traffic safety “jumps off the page” in Fremont’s data. He said the city had seven traffic-related fatalities in 2025 and five deaths so far in 2026. (abc7news.com) His response is to expand the traffic unit and give patrol officers more authority to target dangerous driving. He also pointed to organized retail theft, violent crime and property crime as recurring issues in Fremont. (abc7news.com) (ktvu.com) Mitchell took over after City Manager Karena Shackelford appointed him on March 3, 2026, following a nationwide search. City officials said he brought more than three decades of law enforcement experience to the job. (patch.com) The timing matters because Fremont’s own traffic data shows fatalities rose again after 2020, even after earlier declines under the city’s Vision Zero policy. The city says its fatal-crash summaries cover 87 incidents and 88 victims from 2014 through 2025. (fremont.gov 1) (fremont.gov 2) Mitchell said Fremont is also launching a real-time information center and working on a new computer-aided dispatch and records management system. He framed both projects as tools for transparency and faster public data sharing. (abc7news.com) The department’s existing 2024-2027 strategic plan already calls for stronger crime-mitigation tactics, enhanced traffic-safety efforts, work on homelessness-related concerns and more community communication. Mitchell’s public comments suggest he is putting those goals at the center of his first-year agenda. (fremontpolice.gov) Mitchell arrived from Oakland, where he served about 18 months as police chief before resigning in October 2025. KTVU reported that he defended that tenure by citing a crime drop of more than 25% while he was there. (ktvu.com) He is now pitching a narrower message in Fremont: use the data, put officers where the problems are, and show residents why police resources are being deployed there. (abc7news.com)
