Dearborn Heights Police to allow Muslim women to wear hijab after arrests

Under pressure from a lawsuit, the City of Dearborn Heights has agreed to change its booking procedures to allow Muslim women who wear Islamic head scarves to keep them on during photos and to be searched by female officers without men present.

Also under the agreement, reached Wednesday, Muslim women who are jailed will now have the right to wear a hood made of Tyvek, a synthetic fiber that is tear resistant, preventing women from using it to hang themselves.

The detailed new policy reflects the changing demographics of Dearborn Heights, where 22% of the residents are of Arab descent, many of them Muslim. In cities across Michigan, woman are fighting for the right to keep on their headscarves, known as hijabs, the Free Press reported last week.

In Dearborn, which has an even larger Arab-American Muslim population, the police still don’t have any updated policies to deal with hijab, prompting a lawsuit last Tuesday.

Malak Kazan, 27, of Dearborn Heights sued Dearborn Heights Police in January for ordering her to remove her headscarf after she was arrested last July for driving on a suspended license. Kazan said she asked to have a female officer search her and take her photo but was refused. His supervisor also refused the request, she said.

Kazan and other observant Muslim women who wear hijab believe that they should not show their hair and must dress modestly in front of men who are not members of their family.

Initially, Dearborn Heights fought the claims, saying that Kazan “is a scofflaw and an individual who habitually drives on a suspended license,” in their legal response. The city said it doesn’t always have a female officer available and that women arrested “may be hiding contraband in the hijab, such as a razor blade, or an illegal substance.”

But the city agreed to the policy change, which was approved by Police Chief Lee Gavin. The new policy applies to women who wear hijabs, which covers the head but not the face, as well as burkas, which cover all or most of the face.

If a Muslim woman with a covering is arrested, “attempts will be made to reach a female officer immediately to stand present while the arrestee/prisoner removes her religious headscarf,” the new policy reads. The female officer will search the woman and her clothing to check for any hidden dangerous or illegal items such as razor blades and drugs.

Dearborn Heights has only three female police officers. So if one isn’t available, they will rely on a female employee, most likely a dispatch officer, says the policy.

The Muslim women will be processed away from the presence of other men. The booking photos can be taken with the hijab on.

But if the Muslim woman has an identifying mark like a scar or tattoo, an additional photo will be taken of that unique mark. Any photos of the marks will not be available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act.

A similar policy will be in place for women with burkas. But there will be two sets of photographs in those cases: photos with the burka on and photos without them. In the photos without the burkas, the women have to remove the part of the burka that covers the face area.

Michigan’s Secretary of State allows driver’s licenses with hijab, but not full burkas or niqabs.

A joint statement from Kazan, Kazan’s attorneys, Cyril Hill and Amir Makled, and the City of Dearborn Heights praised Dearborn Heights Mayor Daniel Paletko for ensuring all residents have “their civil and constitutional rights protected.”

Gavin did not return calls on Friday. Kazan could not be reached.

In her lawsuit, Kazan stressed the importance of her hijab for her faith: “Wearing a head scarf is a reminder of her faith, the importance of modesty in her religion ... as well as a symbol of her own control over who may see the more intimate parts of her body.”

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Follow him on Twitter @nwarikoo