DEARBORN HEIGHTS— The Police Department has announced that it will be implementing a new policy for women who wear a religious headscarf, following a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a resident who was arrested and forced to remove her hijab during booking.

The case involving Malak Kazan garnered national media coverage after she filed a lawsuit claiming that her civil rights were violated when she involuntarily removed her hijab in front of male police officers while being detained for driving on a suspended license. 

While the case was set to be argued in federal hearings, both parties came to a mutual agreement to settle the dispute out of court. After long discussions spanning over several months, both parties were able to agree on a resolution. 

The first most noteworthy change is that the police department will no longer require a Muslim woman to remove her hijab during the booking process. Second, a search and pat down will be performed by a female officer. If one is not on duty, then the procedure will be performed by a female dispatcher or a woman from another police agency.

A Muslim woman will also be provided with special clothing and alternative head covering that will still allow her to veil her hair while in detention. 

Kazan’s attorneys, Cyril Hall and Amir Makled, said that the new policy is the first of its kind that will hopefully set a precedent for other local departments.

Following Kazan’s case, several other Muslim women in Michigan have also filed lawsuits against local police departments, claiming that they were forced to remove their hijab in front of male authorities.

Last week, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee of Michigan (ADC-MI) filed a similar complaint against the city of Dearborn. 

“I think this is the best policy that any local municipality or law enforcement agency can have for their inmates and Muslim women,” Makled told The Arab American News. “This will be used as the base line for all local enforcement agencies to set a policy and mirror what we have here.”

Makled said the new policy maintains the integrity of women and also addresses concerns that law enforcement agencies may have in terms of safety. In these cases, authorities have often claimed that the removal of the headscarf is necessary in order to ensure that the detainee isn’t concealing a weapon.

Makled applauded Dearborn Police Chief Lee Gavin and Dearborn Heights  Mayor Dan Paletko for listening to residents’ concerns and coming to a resolution.

“We were able to resolve the case through negotiation,” Makled said. “I think that the mayor and police chief realize that they wanted to do what’s right and I think that they made a good faith effort to try and resolve this issue. I think they did an excellent job in trying to work out our dispute.”

Makled said Kazan is enthused that she’s led the new policy change, despite the severe backlash she received for going public with the case. Her complaint sparked arguments on whether civil rights outweigh law and policing policies.

The city also compensated Kazan an undisclosed amount for the humiliation and distress she faced during the incident and its aftermath. She claimed to have been so distraught following her arrest that she also missed out on her court appearance. 

As a result, the city issued a warrant for her arrest. Kazan eventually appeared at the police department with Makled, where she was booked a second time; but officers allowed her to keep her headscarf on during her mugshot on that occasion. 

Last month, the City Council approved both the resolution and Kazan’s compensation.

“Malak is extremely ecstatic that we were able to resolve this and resolve it swiftly,” Makled said. “She is very happy about the resolution. She did receive backlash for standing firm behind her beliefs, but she was very brave for what she did in standing up.”

Chief Gavin told The Arab American News that both the police department and the mayor have been open to discussions on how the city could take steps to be more culturally sensitive towards its diverse population of residents.

“We want to ensure that the citizens of Dearborn Heights have their civil and constitutional rights protected and we want to do everything we can to work with the community,” Gavin said. “Any time the city, let it be the police or mayor’s office, works together to come to a mutually agreed resolution, it’s always better for the community.” 

Residents in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights have long argued that the police forces don’t reflect the population of those cites. Gavin noted that with the increase of Arab American residents in recent years, there has been an increase in arrests of Muslim women. 

“We arrest people of all colors and races,” Gavin said. “Whoever commits a criminal offense will get arrested. We are seeing an increase of Middle Eastern residents in our community, thus there is an increase in their arrests. A lot of our arrests are a reflection of the community that lives here.” 

He also said the department still strives to hire a diverse force. Out of 82 police officers, only three are women and just a handful are Arab American or African American. He said the department has reached out to diverse communities during their hiring processes, including placing ads in The Arab American News and the Michigan Chronicle, but fell short on applicants. 

“To get a culturally diverse department is something we strive for,” Gavin said. “The only problem is we ran ads in the newspaper and we just conducted backgrounds to hire and we didn’t have as many Middle Eastern applicants as we hoped for.”

Gavin said in a pool of about 40 candidates, only 10 were of Middle Eastern descent. Following background checks and testing, only two of those Middle Eastern candidates were able to move forward. 

He also said that local municipalities appear to share the same sentiments; they are looking to hire diverse police officers, but the applicants are not coming forward.

“Talking with area departments, it appears to be an issue all over,” Gavin said.  “We try to get the Middle Eastern representatives, but they don’t apply; and if they aren’t applying, how are we supposed to get them? That’s where it gets frustrating. The community comes to us, but the applicants aren’t there and that’s the issue.”