Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said he spoke to President Joe Biden on May 18 during the Dearborn visit about his concerns about the Palestinian civilian victims, and urged the president to seek a cease fire.
‘I draw the line at babies and grandmothers’
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – During the four minutes Police Chief Ronald Haddad had with President Joe Biden during his May 18 visit, Haddad urged him to seek a cease fire to ease Palestinian suffering.
“I said to him that we have a lot of protests in the street, and my community is hurting,” he said. “I said, to me, it is no more complicated than worrying about grandmothers and babies.”
Haddad said Biden told him that “he gets it.”
The chief said he almost walked away without getting a photo, but Biden called him back, and they took a socially distanced snapshot.
Haddad said he also spoke to Biden about the pressure and stress that police officers are faced with daily.
“I said to him that we have 800,000 police officers in our country that keep our neighborhoods orderly and well-served, and that they are all hurting right now,” he said. “I said we are not going to sugar-coat the accountability that the nation is calling for. It was always there, but now they have a definition for it, because they see what they don’t like about policing.”
Haddad said his exchange with Biden was “quite candid.”
He said everyone who came in contact with the president had to be vaccinated, had a rapid COVID-19 test on site, and had to wear a mask.
“He did invite me to the White House to discuss the police issues,” Haddad said. “I hope he remembers what I said, and I am looking forward to presenting him with some thoughts on how to bring the police profession into this century, with what the American people are demanding now.
“Certainly, defunding the police, or eradicating the police is not an answer. We don’t live in an all-or-nothing world. The argument is flawed.”
He said the police are out there to serve the community and to take measures which prevent crime before it happens, to keep the good order of the community in place and to respond to emergencies.
“Therein lies the 24-hour state of readiness,” Haddad said. “So, when people say they can defund the police or get rid of the police, they are not taking into account that we are out there for the emergencies – the car wrecks, injured children – we are out there for people that rob people, and to direct traffic when the traffic signals go sideways. We are out there to manage the streets when there are heavy rains or snows.
“It’s ongoing, and that is the fallacy that they don’t consider. We are out there in a state of preparedness, with the hopes that things go right, but, historically, we know that they don’t always go right.”
He said he supports more funding for the care and treatment for those with mental illness.
“I know, as a nation, that we have failed (the mentally ill),” he said. “But to think that you can get rid of 15 police officers and take that money and invest it somewhere else is just incoherent.”
He said the facility which Beaumont Health is building in Dearborn, with psychiatric and mental health services, will be a tangible resource to which people can be referred.
On May 19, midway through the week, Haddad said it had already been a long week, with five demonstrations and a presidential visit.
He said that on May 15 there was a demonstration that began at the Arab American National Museum, with children and women, which took to the streets. Then, on May 16, 10,000 demonstrators rallied at the police station before marching down Michigan Avenue to Schaefer Road and back.
On May 18, the day of Biden’s visit to Dearborn, there were three demonstrations: one at a mosque located near Vernor and Dix, which was designed to be a media event; one at the Dearborn police station, with about 3,000 participants; and a group at Lapeer Park, who he said were not cooperative, but who marched peacefully through neighborhoods.
“That’s risky business when you are marching through side streets, because somebody can barrel around a corner with a car and not even know you are there,” Haddad said. “If we don’t know their route, we can’t block the streets for them.”
While the three demonstrations were occurring May 18, Biden was touring the new electric vehicle plant at the Ford Rouge complex, 300 families received food boxes at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, and 800 people also received vaccinations at the COMPAC that same day.
Haddad said on May 18, police officers responded to 216 calls for service.
“Every single person in this building measured up (May 18),” he said. “At 10 a.m., when yet another demonstration popped up, we had to rapidly deploy our detectives in uniform. Every one of them had their uniforms here, and they were out on the street in less than 15 minutes.”
While Haddad said no one was hurt or arrested at any of the demonstrations, he said that from May 15 to 18, 112 citations were written for moving violations, including five for disregarding a stop sign, six for disobeying a traffic control device, six for careless driving, two for reckless driving, eight for impeding traffic, seven for passengers riding outside of vehicles, and one for unnecessary noise, from a vehicle horn.
“I don’t think our young people recognize the danger that can impact them, when they are hanging out of a car window with a large flag,” he said. “If a gust of wind were to catch that flag, it could suck them right out of the car.”
Haddad said he understands their excitement and enthusiasm, but hanging out of car windows and sunroofs is not safe.
He said the Dearborn community are skilled activists, they lead the way, and they will not be silenced until there is a resolution to the humanitarian crisis for Palestinians.
Haddad said his team is ready to protect and serve.
“Our department is functioning on all eight cylinders, and every person in this building is committed to the safety and the service of our community,” he said. “I am extremely grateful to the men and women in the building.”