Melvindale Mayor Nicole Shkira (left) announces during the March 20 City Council meeting that no local police departments are willing to house Melvindale’s detainees, and the city will need to upgrade its existing facilities to prepare to reactivate the detention cells, as Corporate Counsel Larry Coogan listens.
PD will need to upgrade, reactivate in-house facilities
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – Mayor Nicole Shkira said the Police Department has been unable to negotiate a jail agreement with any local police departments and will need to upgrade its own detention cells.
The Melvindale Police Department will need to purchase a new surveillance camera system to monitor detainee actions and health, and will have to adjust its staffing plan to have a police officer on site when a person is housed in a detention cell.
The mayor, who made the announcement during the March 20 City Council meeting, said they have been unable to negotiate a detention arrangement with nearby cities since Dearborn announced in February that its police department will no longer house Melvindale’s prisoners after May 9, citing liability concerns.
Allen Park declined in mid-February to provide jail services, and Shkira announced at that time that she planned to approach the Lincoln Park and River Rouge police departments for jail services.
“Nobody wants the liability of housing our officers,” Shkira said in an unconscious slip of the tongue.
She was quickly corrected and said she meant to say “prisoners.”
“Some officers may need to be housed, too, I don’t know,” Shkira said jokingly, amid laughter from some in attendance.
She said that once Police Chief Robert Kennaley returns from vacation, she will meet with him, City Manager Richard Ortiz and Corporate Counsel Larry Coogan to determine what will be needed to reactivate the city’s existing jail facility.
“Obviously, we are going to have to do some revisions for the jail,” she said. “I know before, the lieutenants were the ones that sat at the desk and watched prisoners and answered the phone, and that is not cost-effective. We can’t do that.”
Shkira said they will have to come up with a plan to be approved by the council in the near future.
She said she plans to contact Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and ask for an extension of the jail contract until Melvindale’s own facilities can be upgraded.