Hamtramck Police Chief Altaheri resigns, reaches agreement with city

Chief Jameil Altaheri launched statistical evaluation of crime knowledge and promoted range, hiring extra ladies and minorities.

• Hamtramck’s former police chief has resigned and reached an settlement with the town.
• Former Hamtramck Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri began CompStat to investigate crime traits.
• Chief Jamiel Altaheri promoted range, employed ladies and minorities, and led the group.

Former Hamtramck Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri has reached an settlement with the town of Hamtramck that may permit him to resign and obtain 5 months of his wage as severance, his legal professional mentioned Wednesday, Oct. 22.

The deal permits Altaheri, 42, to go away with integrity and protect his fame, his lawyer, Amir Makled, advised the Free Press. His discharge date can be retroactive to August, Makled mentioned. He added that some earlier studies that he had been fired are incorrect. Altaheri considers his future profession as he divides his time between metro Detroit and New York Metropolis, the place he beforehand lived and labored.

Altaheri, an immigrant from Yemen, was the primary minority to guide the police pressure in Hamtramck, a various metropolis with the very best proportion of immigrants amongst Michigan cities. Altaheri employed and promoted officers from various backgrounds and performed in depth group outreach after years of complaints from residents a few almost all-white police division, which they mentioned was out of contact with the group. In 2017, metropolis officers mentioned there could have been just one minority officer within the police division, that all the metropolis firefighters have been white and that solely three metropolis workers have been minorities in a metropolis the place whites had been a minority for many years. 4 years in the past, in November 2021, voters elected Amer Ghalib, the primary minority and first non-Polish mayor within the metropolis’s historical past.

Altaheri, a veteran of the New York Metropolis Police Division and commanding officer of the NYPD’s Workplace of Fairness and Inclusion, was appointed police chief by the council in January 2024. He was sworn in at a ceremony in Zussman Park in Might 2024, together with two feminine law enforcement officials. Along with hiring or appointing minority officers and chaplains from Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Yemeni communities, Altaheri employed and promoted ladies within the division and held the town’s first feminine officer appreciation night. He additionally launched a citizen academy and a youth academy the place residents and younger individuals may get acquainted with the division. Altaheri began the town’s first “CompStat” which makes use of crime knowledge to determine crime traits within the metropolis to fight issues extra successfully. And he added the place of captain to the division.

In the meantime, former officer David Adamczyk secretly recorded him once in a while, later releasing some allegations in opposition to the chief that haven’t been confirmed in court docket. Some residents mentioned racism was behind the backlash in opposition to Altaheri.

As a part of the settlement, Altaheri will withdraw a counterclaim he beforehand filed in opposition to the town, Adamczyk and former metropolis supervisor Max Garbarino, Makled mentioned. Adamczyk and Garbarino, who’re white, had beforehand filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court docket in opposition to Altaheri and the town in June, alleging anti-white bias. That lawsuit is pending, Makled mentioned.

Extra: Hamtramck’s mayor faces a tricky problem amid cultural debates in a number of cities

In August, Metropolis Lawyer Odey Meroueh mentioned the town would hearth Altaheri following a report from Miller Johnson alleging misconduct by Altaheri, Adamczyk and Garbarino. The Metropolis Council fired Garbarino after the report was launched and mentioned the town legal professional would deal with any potential firing of the chief.

However the settlement acknowledged that Altaheri won’t be fired however will as an alternative voluntarily resign. The town council unanimously accredited the settlement with Altaheri final week throughout the October 14 council assembly. The settlement states that Altaheri will obtain his five-month severance bundle someday within the subsequent two weeks, Makled mentioned.

“We tried to discover a mutually acceptable answer,” Makled mentioned in an interview with the Free Press. “We wished the chief to take care of integrity… he’s grateful for the time he spent within the metropolis of Hamtramck. He has accomplished plenty of good. His fame was unfairly tarnished by this entire investigation that I assumed was accomplished in a approach that didn’t give his model of the information. The Miller Johnson investigation… was one-sided, however I feel the town noticed a few of the optimistic issues and optimistic contributions that the chief made to the town of Hamtramck, they usually wished a great decision with the chief.”

In Might, Altaheri was positioned on administrative go away by Garbarino as the town launched an investigation. The transfer sparked outrage from some residents who praised the chief’s work.

Makled’s announcement of the deal got here the day earlier than Ghalib is scheduled to testify on the U.S. Senate affirmation hearings for ambassador to Kuwait on October 23. Trump chosen Ghalib as ambassador in March. Ghalib beforehand mentioned Trump referred to as him in early October and expressed his help. Ghalib isn’t working for re-election within the mayoral race; The mayor’s place and three council seats are on the agenda in November.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo or Facebook @nwarikoo