(Detroit Free Press) A veteran of the Dearborn Police Department will be the city’s next police chief, Mayor-elect Abdullah Hammoud announced Monday.
Starting Jan. 1, Cmdr. Issa Shahin, who has served with Dearborn Police since 1998, will be the first Muslim to lead the department. And he is believed to be the first Muslim police chief in the history of Michigan, said local community advocates.
His appointment comes at a time when the city is seeing demographic changes and calls for more diversity in city departments. Hammoud was the first Arab-American and first Muslim to be elected mayor of Dearborn.
Dearborn has one of the largest city police departments in Michigan, in part because of a city requirement approved by voters that it must have a certain minimum level of police officers.
