(No caption)
The Dearborn Police Department has tried to hire and retain more Arab-American officers to help reflect the Arab-American population, but it hasn't been easy, the Arab American News reports.
Ali Harb of the Arab American News reports:
In 2014, The Arab American News reported that only seven of 184 Dearborn police officers were Arab American — less than 4 percent. Arab Americans are 42 percent of the city’s population, according to U.S. Census estimates. Since then, Chief Ronald Haddad — who is Arab American — has tried to recruit people from the community.
However, the efforts appear to be falling short. At least four newly recruited Arab-American officers have left the department over the past year and a half.
Two of them cited racist attitudes in the department as the reason for his departure.
The report comes at a time the U.S. Justice Department is coming to Dearborn to help the police department deal with a growing mistrust of city police officers by minorities in the wake of two deadly shootings by officers in recent months involving African Americans, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Harb goes on to write:
One of the Arab officers who left Dearborn police last year was hired by Dearborn Heights. When he quit, a city official told The Arab American News that the officer left for better pay and benefits. But the other three officers resigned with no publicly stated reason — two of them within a month of each other in 2016.
One of the four officers who left said he faced daily harassment and discrimination by his colleagues and superiors at the Dearborn Police Department.
He said he heard and overheard anti-Arab sentiments, including, “We need this Arab guy out of here.”
The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of possible professional repercussions, said he almost got in a fight with a training officer over the disrespectful treatment he said he received.
The mistreatment ranged from slurs to aggressive scolding to deliberate alienation, according to the officer. He said fellow officers would not return greetings; they would whisper and laugh when he approached.
