Hamtramck hires New York veteran as police chief, first minority to lead department

Hamtramck has hired as its new police chief a veteran of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) who has worked for years on outreach to diverse communities.

Jamiel Altaheri, 40, who is currently commanding officer of NYPD's Office of Equity and Inclusion, will be the first minority to lead Hamtramck's police department. A Muslim immigrant from Yemen who arrived in the U.S. at age 4, Altaheri will lead police in a city that has the highest percentage of immigrants among cities in Michigan, many of them Muslim. He is the co-founder of the NYPD's Muslim Officers Society and a director of the NYPD's Middle East & Turkic Society.

Hamtramck City Council voted unanimously at its Jan. 29 meeting to select Altaheri out of three candidates interviewed. The appointment came after intense debate among residents and city council about diversity and how police officers are promoted. Altaheri is expected to start in about a month or two, said Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib.

"After interviewing all the candidates, he turns out to be the one with the highest rank, highest education, most experienced in working with minorities," Ghalib told the Free Press. "So we believed that he would be a great addition to our city, taking into consideration that he understands the culture of the community and he is bilingual (in English and Arabic), which would help improve communication with the community and build more trust."

Hamtramck was once a Polish-majority city, but today, the city is only 5% Polish, according to 2020 census data. White people, meaning those with roots in Europe, make up 17% of the city. Arab Americans make up 39% of the city, most of them of Yemeni descent, and Asian Americans make up 29% of the city's residents, a majority of them with roots in Bangladesh. The mayor and each of the six city council members all have roots in Yemen or Bangladesh.

Despite the city's growing diversity, there have been hardly any members of its police and fire departments who are minorities. Arab American civil rights advocates have previously said the department sometimes mistreated its immigrant residents. The issue of diversity among city employees has arisen in other cities across metro Detroit as their demographics change.

"We've had numerous complaints about Hamtramck Police and the way they treat the Yemeni and Bangladeshi communities," Nabih Ayad, an attorney who is founder of the Dearborn-based Arab American Civil Rights League, said in 2016 after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Yemeni Americans who alleged police abuse. "A city's police department should reflect the diversity of the people of the city."

The Free Press reported in November 2017 that all of the city's firefighters were white and there may have been only one police officer who was a minority. Since then, some minorities have been hired, Ghalib said. There is now at least one firefighter of Arab descent.

"We diversified the police department over the past two years," said Ghalib, a native of Yemen who became the first minority mayor of Hamtramck in 2022. "We hired some Arab, Bosnian, and Pakistani officers, but they are mostly new."

Altaheri "would be the only person with leadership position in this department," Ghalib said.

Growing up as a son of immigrants from Yemen, Jamiel Altaheri didn't trust the police.

"Being Muslim, growing up you’re in fear of the police — particularly in my family, they were all scared of the police," Altaheri said in an interview in 2021 with John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "After 9/11, we didn’t trust the police. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but we never had any kind of outreach and we heard stories that some police would say negative things or handle situations differently when they found out that your name was Mohammed."

Altaheri became a police officer in 2004, patrolling the Bronx, a borough in New York City. He rose through the ranks, becoming a detective, sergeant and lieutenant, executive officer in various precincts, deputy inspector and a commanding officer, according to his LinkedIn page.

During the Jan. 29 council meeting, Ghalib and council members praised Altaheri, calling him the most qualified candidate to lead the department. The council also named a Hamtramck police veteran, Andrew Mileski, deputy chief. Mileski is currently acting chief after former Police Chief Anne Moise, the first woman to lead the department, retired last month.

City Councilman Mohammed Alsomiri objected to naming Mileski deputy chief, saying Altaheri should have the right to name his deputy. City manager Max Garbarino, who had recommended Mileski become chief, explained that the naming of both Altaheri and Mileski to leadership positions was sort of a compromise with the city council, who favored Altaheri.

"It was a good nod to the police department to show the police department that you also respected the internal promotion process and that you weren't completely snubbing them in the process," said Garbarino, a former Hamtramck police chief, at the meeting.

Councilman Abu Musa praised Garbarino for traveling to Bangladesh a decade ago to learn about its culture and help train officers. Musa said Altaheri and Mileski can both help the police department.

Ghalib acknowledged that some may be uneasy about a newcomer leading Hamtramck police.

"I know there is fear from any kind of change, but we can make this change a positive one," he said.

Ghalib said that shortly before the Jan. 29 meeting, which was convened to approve the new chief, he received a death threat "that I'll be shot in the city council meeting." Ghalib said he reported the threat to police, who discovered the suspect was from Canada. He said the threat did not mention the issue of the police chief hiring. On Friday, Ghalib announced that the suspect was arrested in Canada after an investigation by Hamtramck police, the FBI, and Canadian authorities.

Altaheri is known to Yemeni American advocates and elected officials, including Councilman Khalil Refai and state Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, who met him in 2017 in New York City.

"When I first came to the police department, there weren’t a lot of Muslims," Altaheri said in 2021. "Being a Muslim in law enforcement is a challenge. I think for me, it kind of made me stronger because I got accepted. You don’t have to necessarily assimilate, but it’s good to have your faith and acknowledge your background, without letting it stop you from accomplishing things in your life and positively impacting the world and the communities you serve."

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck hires new police chief Jamiel Altaheri, an NYPD veteran