DEARBORN HEIGHTS — Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi has announced the appointment of a new director of emergency management for the city.

Hussein Farhat, a 29-year veteran of law enforcement, began his career as a deputy sheriff with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department before moving into a position with the Romulus Police Department.

After his stint in Romulus, Farhat was promoted to detective and re-assigned to the Drug Administration and Detroit Transportation Interdiction (DTIU) Unit as a task force agent, where he investigated hundreds of crimes, including organized crime, homicides, assault and battery, weapons crimes, sexual assault, fraud, identity theft, harassment, burglary, narcotics, arson, robbery, human trafficking, child pornography, terrorism, money laundering and motor vehicle theft, while also working as an undercover narcotics agent.

During his time with the DEA DTIU, he also initiated several Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF) Forces operations targeting major international drug trafficking organizations and successfully dismantled and prosecuted violent members of said organizations.

In 2005, Farhat was hired as a special agent with the DEA, where he served as an undercover special agent with the Detroit Field Division. Because of his extensive background, he was tasked with assisting the DEA’s South America Region to identify, dismantle and prosecute foreign suspects who had operated in South America and had narco-terrorism ties.

With his extensive experience, Farhat was then assigned to assist the Homeland Security Investigations operations at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where his duties included identifying and dismantling drug trafficking organizations, interviewing and arresting terrorist suspects, dismantling and arresting foreign suspects who were defrauding victims in the United States and investigating computer child pornography and international prostitution. 

As one of the lead undercover agents for the DEA Detroit Field Office, Farhat was tasked to the Michigan State Police’s Western Wayne Narcotics Team to assist with disrupting and dismantling violent local gang organizations in the Metro Detroit area.

After his time at the airport, Farhat returned to the Romulus Police Department, where he served as the lead investigator on most violent crime investigations that targeted individuals and other complex investigations until his retirement last month.

In addition to his extensive law enforcement background, Farhat also served on the teaching faculty at the Wayne County Regional Police Academy from 1997 until 2001 as a physical training instructor, along with the test proctor for the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES), formerly known as Michigan Law Enforcement Officer’s Training (MLEOTC), former defensive tactics instructor and narcotics interdiction instructor.

Farhat earned his bachelor’s of science degree from Eastern Michigan University, majoring in science, and has since completed extensive training coursework relating to advanced law enforcement topics and techniques, including interviewing and interrogation, specialized evidence collection, homicide, cell phone investigations, Title III investigations, cell phone mapping and data, social networking, online investigations and computer forensics, hosted by several organizations and facilities, including the Department of Justice, DEA and the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

As the emergency management director, Farhat will be responsible for all of the city’s disaster preparedness initiatives and will serves as a resource for the emergency responders as they react to large-scale emergencies such as storms, flooding, power outages and more.

He is replacing Bob Ankrapp, who is stepping away from the emergency management role to dedicate more efforts to the city’s public information and public relations needs.

“I am delighted to welcome Mr. Farhat to our team,” Bazzi said. “He has a vast knowledge and base of contacts in the public safety arena, which will serve him well as our city’s emergency management director.”