The Dearborn Heights City Council starts what would become a five-hour meeting Jan. 28.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Mayor Bill Bazzi’s latest leadership changes in the Police Department, including removing Hussein Farhat from his interim police chief role, have upset some city council members, police officers and residents.
When Police Chief Kevin Swope left DHPD effective Jan. 6 for the top spot in South Haven, then Deputy Police Chief Hussein Farhat became interim police chief.
However, on Jan. 23, Bazzi announced that Farhat was returning to the role of Support Services deputy police chief, and Director Paul Vanderplow, the former director of Support Services, would become the director and interim police commissioner, and would be responsible for the overall management and oversight of all police operations.
Ahmed Haidar, who recently retired from the Detroit Police Department, was named deputy chief of Patrol Operations, and will serve as acting police chief until a permanent replacement is hired.
Bazzi said a “national search would be conducted to identify our next police chief.”
City Councilmember Hassan Saab placed a T-shirt emblazoned with “I can’t talk about it” on Mayor Bill Bazzi’s chair in his absence during the Jan. 28 council meeting, which Saab said is the mayor’s frequent response to council members’ questions.
He did not attend the council meeting. Instead, a shirt with the words “I can’t talk about it” was draped over his empty chair, put there by Councilmember Hassan Saab.
Farhat said he placed Vanderplow on administrative leave in early January because of his treatment of police officers and his creation of a hostile work environment.
Two days after Vanderplow was promoted over Farhat, Vanderplow launched what Farhat is characterizing as a “retaliatory investigation” against him.
Farhat said Bazzi refused to have Vanderplow investigated when he was serving as interim police chief.
City Council President Mo Baydoun expressed his outrage that numerous police officers have been accused of corruption by Bazzi, but to date, no charges have been filed.
“So many respected officers in our city have been unfairly painted as corrupt or ‘under investigation,’ and I call that ridiculous,” Baydoun said in a Jan. 26 social media post. “It’s time to leave our police officers alone.
“Zero charges have been found in the last five years, yet we hear claims of ‘corruption’ all over the police department and ‘it’s under investigation.’”
Baydoun said Farhat was wrongly demoted for refusing to be a “yes man” to Bazzi.
“He didn’t pick friends based on politics; he stood for what’s right and ignored the games,” Baydoun said. “This man is beyond honest, and I’m genuinely sorry this happened to the residents, the police department and Chief Farhat.”
Councilmember Hassan Ahmad expressed a similar sentiment in a Jan. 26 social media posting.
“I also stand with our police officers and care deeply about their morale and well-being,” he said. “The treatment of interim Chief Hussein Farhat is unacceptable, and this administration’s unreasonable decisions must stop.”
Councilmember Hassan Saab said that despite Bazzi’s accusations of police corruption, not a single officer has been charged or fired in connection with the claims.
In a Jan. 29 social media post, Saab said the mayor will not answer questions from the city council, saying “I can’t talk about it, it’s under investigation.”
“I dressed the mayor’s chair with the shirt because he hasn’t attended a meeting in over four months,” he said.
Saab also said an email from Farhat to the Human Resources Department alleged that the mayor and Vanderplow had repeatedly stated their desire to physically harm certain police and other officers who “did not follow the mayor’s agenda.”
He said the council approved special legal counsel for Farhat.
Bazzi expressed outrage in a Jan. 31 press release, calling the council members’ conduct at the Jan. 28 council meeting “juvenile and unprofessional.”
“The types of actions we witnessed were at the least unproductive, and at the most a violation of city employees’ personnel rights,” he said. “The fact that the council members reviewed an unsubstantiated and yet-to-be investigated complaint by one employee against another, then read it into the meeting’s official record clearly violates the employee’s due process.”
Bazzi said for the city council to take the action it did is reckless and may put the city at further risk in current litigation involving one of the employees.