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| ADC-MI Executive Director Fatina Abdrabboh. |
DEARBORN — A Dearborn woman who accused the police department of forcing her to remove her hijab has dropped her lawsuit amidst a policy change.
Maha Aldhalimi, 44, originally filed the lawsuit last year with the backing of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Michigan (ADC-MI) and attorney Shereef Akeel, claiming a police officer forced her to remove her hijab when she was arrested in September 2014 for an unpaid parking ticket.
This week, Dearborn Police released a statement claiming the lawsuit was dropped when video evidence revealed her claims were fallacious.
"Dearborn police remains committed to respecting the rights of all people within our custody and we follow a stringent policy regarding religious head covering," Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said. "We knew this lawsuit had no merit and are glad that the people we serve can have confidence that our officers acted properly in this case."
Akeel said he was disappointed that the department's press release painted the plaintiff's legal team in a condescending manner. He said that when the lawsuit was filed, the attorneys were not aware that a policy change had been implemented.
"The press release really surprised me, because I was actually respecting the city for changing the policy," Akeel said. "Several weeks after we jointly agreed to dismiss the case, the city of Dearborn sends out a statement saying it was a bogus lawsuit and that's unfortunate and inaccurate."
Akeel said that following Aldhalimi's arrest, ADC-MI attempted to negotiate with the police department on a policy change.
Akeel provided documentation to The Arab American News which revealed that Haddad had implemented a policy in October 2011 that required Muslim women to remove their hijabs during an arrest for safety reasons.
The old policy stated:
"When a woman wearing a religious head-covering is processed in the Dearborn Police Lock-up and the head-covering is required to be removed for safety reasons, a Tyvek Hood will be offered. If the woman wishes to wear the Tyvek Hood, she will be allowed to do so except during the booking photo procedure when the hood must be removed."
Akeel claimed that without informing Aldhalimi's legal team or ADC-MI, the police department quietly changed the policy in January 2015— four months after her arrest.
The updated policy still requires a Muslim woman to wear a Tyvek Hood provided by the department during booking, but she now has the option to keep it on when her photo is being taken.
"We do not want to speculate as to why the Dearborn police would do this without letting us know," Akeel said. "We have our hunches, but it doesn't matter. The policy is changed and that's a victory for all of us."
Also, the policy stresses avoiding cross-gender searches.
If a Muslim woman is being booked and immediately released, she is able to wear her own personal headwear.
Akeel added that the lawsuit was dropped because the plaintiff felt that the department had addressed her concerns.
"Now she is grateful and satisfied that it won't happen to other Muslim women in the future," Akeel said. "It's a strong enforcement of their religious rights."
He added that Dearborn has had Arab residents for decades and that a policy change that respects Muslim women was long overdue.
"It is a wonderful and momentous occasion," Akeel said. "It's a testament to the success of the suit and the efforts of advocacy groups like ADC Michigan."
ADC-MI Director Fatina Abdrabboh said she was disappointed that the department would release a statement shaming the victim instead of admitting accountability.
"The city of Dearborn's statement is not a reflection of the facts or the record in this case," Abdrabboh said. "Police departments across the country regularly change their policies when a lawsuit is filed and when citizen complaints are presented. Until we got involved, this city held out. It could have easily admitted the policy was wrong. Instead, they put out a statement that shames the victim in a city and community that knows how much that counts."
Amir Makled, who practices out of the Law Office of Cyril Hall, was successful in implementing a similar policy in Dearborn Heights last year, following the arrest of a 27-year-old Muslim woman who was forced to remove her headwear.
Makled said that while he applauds the policy change in Dearborn, he still questions whether it is being implemented. It was enforced more than a year ago, yet no one was aware of it.
"I still feel that Dearborn continues to violate this policy," he said. "It's concerning to me that there might be women who are required to remove their headscarves."
Makled said that while the policy reflects the community, the department's force still doesn't. He noted that hiring more Arab American officers in the department is instrumental in addressing the community's dissatisfaction.
"I'm really upset with their continued failure to hire Arab American police officers," he said. "The Dearborn police department needs to adequately reflect the community. The chief in Dearborn is not trying to work in good faith with the community to try and diversify the force they have right now."
Makled noted that he knows of a few qualified Arab Americans who applied for police officer positions in the department, but weren't hired.
In the last few years, a string of Arab American officers have been hired into the department, but Makled said there should be more.
Previously, Chief Haddad had told The Arab American News that it's been a strenuous task to hire qualified Arab officers because they often fail prerequisites, background checks or have a tremendous amount of debt.
