DEARBORN HEIGHTS — After a nearly six-hour City Council meeting on Jan. 28, Mayor Bill Bazzi appointed a new police chief, the city’s fourth in just under three years.
Bazzi confirmed in a press release that Officer Ahmed Haider will assume command of the Dearborn Heights Police Department as the acting chief while the city conducts its nationally advertised search for a permanent chief.
At the beginning of December 2024, a press release from the city stated that Deputy Chief Hussein Farhat was being appointed interim police chief effective on Jan. 6 and to be sworn in later in the month.
Farhat was set to replace Former Chief Kevin Swope, who had been appointed following the resignation of former Chief Jerrod Hart. Hart had been appointed by Bazzi in February 2022 when he terminated then-Chief Mark Meyers.
During the Council meeting, Councilman Hassan Saab, who placed a t-shirt on Bazzi’s seat reading, “I can’t talk about it”, read an email from Farhat directed to the city’s human resources director claiming “retaliation” and that he had placed Paul Vanderplow, the former director of support services, on an administrative leave due to creating a hostile work environment, harassing, bullying and intimidating his fellow officers and being insubordinate. Vanderplow replaced Farhat in the role and then launched an investigation into Farhat two days later.

Mayor Bill Bazzi’s empty seat with a shirt placed by Councilman Hassan Saab reading “I Can’t Talk About It” Photo: Hassan Saab
The moves are in direct violation of the Dearborn Heights Police Supervisors’ Association contract and Act 78 of the Police and Fire Service Commission, according to the union president, Nick Szopko.
“Deputy chief is a position that’s within our contract and within our union, and it has to come from within the union,” Szopko said. “You get promoted to that position. You can’t be appointed from the outside.”
Szopko said Farhat was demoted and Vanderplow was moved to a new position called director/interim police commission and the unions filed grievances and unlawful labor practice claims against Bazzi.

Supervisors Union President Nick Szopko speaks at the City Council meeting, with Farhat seated to the left
“By doing this, he’s denying our employees equal employment opportunities for advancement within the department,” he said. “Employees have worked their entire careers to be promoted to these positions.”
Szopko also said that before Bazzi took office, 80 officers were sworn in and 40 have since left through resignation, termination or retirement.
Councilman Hassan Ahmad told The Arab American News that he is disappointed and concerned with the recent decisions.
“Specifically, I am troubled by the mayor’s failure to move forward with swearing in interim Chief Farhat, despite his demonstrated superior leadership and unity within the police department,” he said. “The overwhelming support for Chief Farhat from our police officers and residents is a testament to his exceptional leadership. It is unacceptable that the mayor has chosen to place him under investigation, which I believe is unfounded. Furthermore, I am alarmed by the mayor’s failure to uphold the terms of the police union contract. This contract was negotiated and executed in good faith, and it is the administration’s legal and ethical responsibility to abide by its terms.”

Hassan Ahmad
Ahmad said that he also urges Bazzi to publicly take immediate action to comply with the contract and to demonstrate a genuine commitment to the police officers.
“Our officers deserve respect, fair treatment and the trust of the administration,” he said. “It is our responsibility as leaders to ensure that they receive it. I called on the mayor to fulfill the obligations of the contract, restore trust with our police force and provide the leadership that our community deserves.”
Bazzi, who was not at the Council meeting and reportedly has not been in attendance in months, told The Arab American News that when a meeting can be conducted professionally he will attend, which he reiterated in a press release calling the meeting an “example of the juvenile and unprofessional actions by Council.”
“The types of actions we witnessed were at the least, unproductive — and at the most, a violation of city employees’ personnel rights,” the press release read. “The fact that the Council members reviewed an unsubstantiated and yet-to-be investigated complaint by one employee against another, then read it into the meeting’s ‘official record’ clearly violates the employee’s due process.”
The press release also said there have been more than 20 complaints against police department employees by Council members that have never been handled in this manner, which Bazzi said can be verified through a FOIA request and that upon notification of the complaint and prior to the Council meeting, the city’s administration started and extended an offering for an external firm to investigate the complaints, which is still pending.
“For City Council to take this action is reckless and may put the city at further risk in current litigation involving one of the employees,” the release read. “These types of actions by council distracts our city from serving the residents and interrupts normal city governmental functions.”
The position for chief of police is open for applications on the city’s website.
Leave a Reply