DETROIT – Last Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) hosted a graduation ceremony at Byblos Banquet Hall in Dearborn for 30 local business, civic and religious leaders, who participated in an eight-week seminar taught by agents who work for the Bureau’s Detroit division.

The Citizen’s Academy Program, established over twenty years ago, is an opportunity for the FBI to shed some light and dispel some misconceptions that people may have about the agency. The program grants citizens access into the daily operations of the FBI and shares with them the methods, communications, technologies and ethics that they adhere to on a regular basis.

Citizens are selected to participate in the academy, via a nomination process, during which FBI employees, or former Citizen’s Academy alumni, nominate individuals who could potentially participate in the eight-week course. Citizens can also nominate themselves if they have been made aware of the program through word-of-mouth. All applicants must pass a background check and a possible interview process, before they are enrolled into the Academy.

Once citizens make it through the Academy, they participate in a graduation ceremony, where they receive a certificate and are encouraged to be ambassadors for the FBI, as well as community liaisons.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony this year were Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office Robert Foley, Head of Intelligence Audra T. JoliCoeur, and U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who spoke about the FBI’s involvement with Detroit One, a recently established initiative, between local law enforcement agencies, to help reduce crime.  

Solan Darwish, a Dearborn resident, is one of the students who graduated from the Academy this year. From early May, through late June, she, along with other southeast Michigan residents, attended ten seminars at the FBI’s Detroit Field Office downtown.  Darwish says that she picked up on plenty of interesting aspects about the FBI during the eight-week course and is ready to take part in dialogue, surrounding rumors, or misconceptions that other local residents may have about the Bureau.

Solan Darwish (right) receives her certificate from Special Agent in Charge Robert Foley (Left) during the FBI Citizen’s Academy graduation ceremony at Byblos Banquet Hall in Dearborn.

“There is so much more to the FBI than what people may perceive. There are laws they must follow, and steps they have to take to ensure fair practice to the citizens and integrity for the law. These agents are very passionate about what they do,” Darwish stated. “As an Arab American individual who is apart of a large Middle Eastern community, I can imagine there may be some concerns about the motives, although allow me to lay one rumor to rest, and that is, this program was most certainly not about recruiting potential informants. Now that I’ve completed the program it is important for me to do my best to serve the programs purpose, which is to spread the word and help in whatever way I can to foster a productive relationship between my community and the FBI.”

Darwish says that during the eight-week course, she learned about public corruption, civil rights, violent crimes involving gangs, cyber crimes and collecting evidence from a crime scene, such as finger prints and blood samples. 

Her favorite part of the academy was getting to travel to Milan, Michigan, where citizens were able to work with a SWAT team on a gun range and learn about the protocols and procedures of handling firearms. During the course, they also learned about polygraph tests and were able to learn more about the functions and accuracy of a lie detector test, firsthand.  

Bushra Alawie, a community outreach specialist for the FBI, has been with the Detroit Field Office for two years now. Alawie is a Dearborn resident and graduate from Edsel Ford High School.  She has a master’s degree in social work and served as the manager of the Language and Culture Specialist Program for the U.S. National Guard, before transitioning over to the FBI.

“My role is to establish and maintain open dialogue with members of the community, including leaders, organizations and institutions, in order to understand their concerns and issues and educate them on what our mission is and what the FBI stands for,” Alawie says. 

Alawie believes that community members tend to fear the FBI, because of misconceptions that they have over their relationship with the Arab American community. She says that she wants to use the Academy as a means to build stronger bridges with the community, by showing citizens that the FBI is here to serve them.

“Often times, the community doesn’t understand the role of the FBI, or what role they play in the community. But when they meet other agents, they are able to attach a human element to the agency and are able to establish a level of trust again,” she added.

FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet says that the FBI tends to be painted in a negative light in Hollywood and in the news, but, contrary to that image, the people involved with the agency are normal everyday people, who have an interest in serving their surrounding communities. Shayket says that he has developed numerous relationships with community members through the Academy and wants residents to know that the FBI investigates civil rights claims as well.

“The images you might see in Hollywood, in films and in books, of men wearing dark suits and acting and talking in a certain way, is far from the truth. This is a good way for people to come in and get to know the agents and see for themselves that they are very patriotic, and they believe in fighting crime and keeping the community safe,” Shaykhet stated. 

For more information about the FBI’s Citizen’s Academy Program, visit www.fbi.gov, or call the Detroit Field Office at 313.965.2323 to speak to a community outreach specialist.