The Yemeni American News<\/p>\n
Dearborn, Mich. \u2013 Police Chief Ronald Haddad has served the City of Dearborn for the past 15 years. As police chief, he\u2019s spearheaded many efforts meant to produce a more equitable system of keeping residents safe and secure.<\/p>\n
However as far as challenges come, Chief Haddad reflected on one of the biggest of his career \u2013 the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years of Michigan\u2019s grapple with the disease, Dearborn Police needed to reorient their efforts for keeping the city\u2019s residents safe and healthy.<\/p>\n
These efforts involved more than just \u2018Law and Order\u2019 policing. As Chief Haddad explains, the shift took a flexible approach to the unpredictable challenges brought on by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely changed our methods of operation intentionally, because it was required,\u201d Chief Haddad said. \u201cBut it\u2019s all in line with keeping the community safe. You can\u2019t keep people safe if you can\u2019t keep them healthy. If you don\u2019t get food in an orderly manner. A pandemic, by description, is a very unpredictable thing\u2026 So we had to just protect our communities as best we could.\u201d<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, the challenges of policing in Dearborn didn\u2019t start at the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, Chief Haddad says, the role of a police department has been evolving rapidly. Just before the pandemic, the Opioid Epidemic raged throughout the country and created an increasing dependency on illicit drugs.<\/p>\n
Even with all the complications involved with the illicit opioid trade, the country is still responding to changes made after 9\/11. A single day that changed law enforcement forever, the attack on the World Trade Center created a period of hypervigilance that oftentimes targeted Arab Americans and created a new era of surveillance and security.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly 9\/11 and post-9\/11 was a very challenging time,\u201d Chief Haddad said. \u201cWe had to evolve as to what\u2019s the best way to protect the country one block at a time. And there was always a reevaluation on what\u2019s best. Anybody with a camera back then taking pictures of critical infrastructure could be on a school project, but bells went off. We had to really investigate that and it wasn\u2019t often pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the national outcry, Dearborn was at the forefront of equitable change in the post-9\/11 period. Under Chief Haddad\u2019s leadership a few years later, the Dearborn response to this law enforcement crisis involved an attitude of inclusion for the Arab American and Muslim American community members of the city.<\/p>\n