Mayor O’Reilly appears frustrated on WXYZ

DEARBORN — While Mayor Jack O’Reilly and the Dearborn Police Union deny that the Police Officers Association was behind the survey that showed low morale in the department, two sources said the study came from the union.

The study, which was leaked to WXYZ Channel 7 last week, revealed “scathing” criticism by officers of the department’s leadership.

A source close to City Hall, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the survey was authorized and conducted by the union. 

He said union leaders even shared the findings of the review with the mayor and gave him until April 29 to respond. The WXYZ segment aired on April 28.

City Council Pro Tem Tom Tafelski also said the union was behind the survey.

The TV report did not specify who conducted the review. 

A union representative denied that the Police Officers Association authorized the study.

Kenneth Grabowski, the Dearborn business agent at the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said he has not even read the survey. 

“We didn’t have anything to do with it,” Grabowski said.

He added that the union is in constant communication with Chief Ronald Haddad. But he did not hold back on criticizing the department’s leadership.

“We’ve raised many of these issues before the survey and after the survey; and the department has chosen to ignore the union’s advice,” Grabowski told The Arab American News. “There’s a lack of support to the guys on the part of the department that’s being run by the chief.”

Mayor O’Reilly dismissed the findings of the survey as unscientific. He said union leaders told him they did not authorize the review.

The mayor said he has a suspicion as to who commissioned the study. He accused the source of the review of using it to advance personal political interests at the expense of the city. 

“I know by hearsay only, so I can’t really say,” the mayor said in response to a question about the source of the survey. “But I know it wasn’t the Police Officers’ Union or any group associated with them.”

O’Reilly described the study, which gathered the opinions of 124 officers, as a “piece of junk.”

He defended Chief Haddad.

“It was not a legitimate survey,” he said. “It was all kinds of anecdotal stuff. It’s very divisive. It does not reflect well on the persons who responded. It wasn’t professionally done or anything. It was really poor.”

He added that the review was irresponsible.

“It could cause extra complications in an already difficult situation,” O’Reilly said.

The mayor was referring to the scrutiny the department has been under after Dearborn officers fatally shot two African Americans in December and January.

According to O’Reilly, the questions were sent to officers’ home addresses. The mayor said it was inappropriate that whoever conducted the survey had access to that information.

At a City Council meeting earlier this year, Tafelski requested conducting a survey to find out the car size that officers prefer, while discussing the purchase of police vehicles.

The mayor said the damaging survey included questions about vehicle size. Tafelski and O’Reilly have a long history of political rivalry.

However, Tafelski said he has nothing to do with the survey.

“I have no comment on that because it’s not my survey to comment on,” he said in a voicemail responding to a request for comment. “It’s the Police Officers Association of Dearborn. Sorry, I can’t help you out.”