DEARBORN — The Department of Homeland Security hosted a National Summit on Empowering Communities to Prevent Violent Extremism at its Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, GA, Aug. 13 – 14.

A joint initiative of FLETC, the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, the event had a goal of advancing interdisciplinary efforts to implement effective community-based countering violent extremism intervention strategies, and create a community of interest that will continually improve upon those efforts.

City of Dearborn community leaders Chief of Police Ronald Haddad, Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Brian Whiston and Imam Radwan Mardini of the American Muslim Center, along with more than 50 other representatives from the federal, state, local, international, and non-governmental sectors, were invited to participate.  

FLETC organizes basic and advanced law enforcement training for more than 90 federal agencies and for several thousands of state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement officers and agents. 

Chief Haddad, Superintendent Whiston and Imam Mardini gave a presentation about the strengths, challenges faced, and successes of the Dearborn community.

Some topics covered were: population, family activities, national attractions, and the more than 50 academic institutions, with the notation that the Dearborn Public School District is the third largest in the state of Michigan, with 19,500 students.