{"id":6872,"date":"2024-02-09T05:11:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T09:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=6872"},"modified":"2024-02-09T05:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T09:11:41","slug":"hamtramck-hires-first-yemeni-muslim-american-police-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/hamtramck-hires-first-yemeni-muslim-american-police-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamtramck hires first Yemeni Muslim American police chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Nargis Hakim Rahman
\n<\/span><\/strong>YAN
\nWDET<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Hamtramck is getting a new police chief following the retirement of Anne Moise last month.<\/p>\n

Jamiel Altaheri, deputy inspector and the commanding officer of diversity and inclusion at the New York Police Department, is set to become Hamtramck\u2019s first Yemeni and Muslim police chief.<\/p>\n

He brings with him 20 years of experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis opportunity came about through friends of mine in Hamtramck and as well as the mayor there. I thought it\u2019d be a good new chapter in my career but also my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Altaheri co-founded the NYPD Muslim Officers Society, and founded the Yemeni American Law Enforcement Officers Association to help break stereotypes of Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came on the job in 2004, hearing a lot of racial bias rhetoric, and I realized there\u2019s a lot of ignorance within the police department, as well as the community and society at that time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jamiel Altaheri.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Islam as Muslims were misrepresented or misunderstood by many people. He wanted to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like it was our obligation as Muslim police officers to create a society that will bridge that gap between the law enforcement community and the Muslim, but also be a voice of reason to let them know that we\u2019re out there to serve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There are now over 1,000 members in the New York City Police Department who are Muslim. Altaheri says the officers play a role in recruiting officers from their communities and making people feel more comfortable with the police department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came in 2004, there were many supervisors, it was really hard as a captain or inspector at that time. And now currently, we have over 20 Muslim police captains, which it\u2019s amazing just to see all this transpired throughout the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamtramck, where Altaheri will serve as police chief, has a large Arab American and Muslim population.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A historical moment in Hamtramck<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just another opportunity to just be a part of that process and be a positive change and in the city of Hamtramck, especially when it comes to public safety.\u201d Altaheri said.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s an opportunity for him to share his skills, be a good representation of the Muslim community and showcase that there are qualified police officers \u201cwho happen to be Muslim and Yemeni American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something for me, as a testament not only to myself, my family, but to the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Altaheri hopes to build community relations to improve diversity in the city and among the police department. He says there\u2019s been a lot of issues and divide policing Muslim communities, especially post 9\/11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you need to be a lot more sensitive, you need to understand their culture, their religion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Altaheri says having police officers who understand different religions, cultures can build trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are more inclined to talk to you once they know that you care about the cultural\u2026 you understand the culture, and the better communication you have with the community, the better you can serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altaheri says he hopes to also create youth programs in the city through a youth explorer program and academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that when they see the police they feel safe and not feel afraid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nargis Hakim Rahman YAN WDET Hamtramck is getting a new police chief following the retirement of Anne Moise last month. Jamiel Altaheri, deputy inspector and the commanding officer of diversity and inclusion at the New York Police Department, is set to become Hamtramck\u2019s first Yemeni and Muslim police chief. He brings with him 20 years […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6872"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6877,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872\/revisions\/6877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}