MLEAC Accreditation Challenge

Dearborn Police have applied for accreditation through the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (MLEAC). As part of this process, MLEAC is accepting public comments today only. Comments can be made through email, or through a phone call.

According to Chief Haddad, this accreditation can result in increased community advocacy, and more confidence in the agency’s ability to operate efficiently and respond to community needs. However, Chief Haddad and the DPD have not put in the work to earn this confidence. Either they have failed to provide the transparency of information that concerned community members request, or they have failed to implement crucial points that would not only keep the Dearborn community safe, but would also make DPD eligible for this accreditation.

Phone calls were accepted only August 20, between 10am and 12pm. Call the number: 313-943-2493. We were promised 5 minutes per statement, but this promise was unfulfilled as many statements were cut off after only 90 seconds.

Email comments can be sent to: dearbornpdaccreditation@ci.dearborn.mi.us and nrossow@michiganpolicechiefs.org

We are asking all of our members to send a clear message to this group: Dearborn Police do not meet the standards of this accreditation process. The full set of standards are available online. We have already identified key areas where the Police Department has failed to meet these standards (as determined by the information they have made available to the public). Please use this list as you create your statement:

• 1.3.1 B Requires an anonymous procedure for accepting complaints front the public* -- DPD has no identified procedure to accept anonymous complaints. All complaints must be made in person or via phone, with no indication of protections against the identification of callers or in-person visitors.

• 1.5.2 B Requires officers to attend ethics training -- There is no record of ethics training being administered in either the 2018 or 2019 Dearborn Police Department Annual reports or through any other publicly accessible documents.

• 1.5.4 Requires Departments receiving this accreditation to address bias in policing* -- DPD does not track race of individuals receiving citations, making it impossible to establish if racial bias is present.

• 1.5.4 E Requires officers to attend bias training -- There is no record of bias training being administered in either the 2018 or 2019 Dearborn Police Department Annual reports or through any other publicly accessible documents.

• 1.5.5 E Requires that the department handle sexual harassment complaints in accordance with Michigan law -- Sexual harassment complaints filed by officers resulted in retaliation against the reporting officer in the case of Ehlert v City of Dearborn.

• 3.3.1 B Requires the department establish a duty to intervene for officers* -- There are no publicly available records indicating that Dearborn PD has no established duty to intervene.

• 3.3.1 J Requires medical aid be administered to someone injured by officers’ use of force -- Dearborn Police failed to provide adequate medical aid to Ali Beydoun after he was assaulted by multiple officers. Ali was brought to a hospital for mental treatment, not physical treatment for injuries sustained.

• 3.5.4 Requires officers to attend mental illness interaction training -- There is no record of mental illness interaction training being administered in either the 2018 or 2019 Dearborn Police Department Annual reports or through any other publicly accessible documents.

• 3.5.5 Requires the use of video recording for evidentiary purposes -- When Kevin Matthews was murdered in 2015 by Officer Hampton, only 13 seconds of video recording could be recovered. Before sexually assaulting a woman during a traffic stop, Officer Smith turned off the audio recording on his Dashboard camera. These two events indicate inadequate procedures for the collection and storage of video recordings for evidentiary value.

• 3.5.7 N requires a meaningful review of foot pursuits, including review of the severity of offense -- Officer Hampton chose to pursue Kevin Matthews on foot despite the severity of the offense (allegedly stealing a Red Bull) did not warrant the pursuit. Officer Hampton was retained by the force after this incident, indicating inadequate review procedures.

• 5.3.3 Requires officers to attend detainee supervision training -- There is no record of detainee supervision training being administered in either the 2018 or 2019 Dearborn Police Department Annual reports or through any other publicly accessible documents.

* The items indicated with an asterisk were not in place at the time of the accreditation, or no publicly accessible information was available at the time of the accreditation.