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ENSURING SAFETY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

COMMON-SENSE SOLUTIONS TO CREATE PROGRESS FOR EVERYONE.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE IN WESTLAND.

I am committed to ensuring that we keep Westland a safe place to live, play, and work in. We must have a system of public safety that keeps us safe and is equitable, fair, and just for all. Everyone should feel safe and be treated fairly in our city.

RESULTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • City Council worked with the Westland Police to hire a Social Worker to support people's mental healthcare.

       The number one provider for mental healthcare in America is often the County and State prison system. That is wrong. I 

       believe that we need to reform the way policing is done in the United States. For too long we have ignored the mental

       healthcare needs and personal well being of those in our society and in our community.

 

       Instead of getting people the mental healthcare and family support they need, the focus of law enforcement and our

       criminal justice system has been to arrest people and put them in jail with the maximum sentence. By hiring a Social

       Worker to work with the Westland Police Department we can now have trained mental healthcare professional work

       with our Police Officers. Instead of arresting people, a trained Social Worker can better handle situations that involve a

       person experiencing a mental health crises and provide them with the support necessary to help them get better.

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  • City Council work with the Westland Police to hire and fund a Domestic Violence Advocate.

       The Westland Police Department, with the support of the City Council, has partnered with the First Step organization

       and hired a Domestic Violence Advocate to work with and support victims of domestic violence. When incidents of

       domestic violence happen, our top priorities must be to protect the victims of abuse, get them to safety, and ensure

       they have the support needed so they don't end up living with their abuser again. Our Domestic Violence Advocate can

       give individuals and families the support they need to get to safety, start a new life, and see that their abuser won't be

       able to harm them again.​

 

  • Supported the new Police Transparency Dashboard.

       We need to ensure that policing in Westland is more equitable, fair and just for everyone. Too often, people of color,

       young people, and the working poor feel they are treated different by Police. Systemic discrimination in any form, on the

       basis of age, color, creed, economic status, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation, have no place in policing.

 

       I am glad that we have created a Police Transparency Dashboard. This dashboard will allow us to see arrest statistics 

       based on what types of arrests are made and the demographics (ethnicity, gender, and race) of the persons being

       arrested by police. This will help us be able to better address and create a more fair and equitable police department

       through its policies and procedures.​

       CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WESTLAND POLICE TRANSPARENCY DASHBOARD

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  • Invested money to upgrade Fire Station #2 on Merriman Road and Fire Station #4 on Palmer Road.

       As apart of the $26 million in funds that the City of Westland got from the American Rescue Plan we are investing over a

       $2 million to rebuild or upgrade two of our Fire Stations. We will be upgrading and expanding the size of Fire Station #2

       on Merriman Road and potentially rebuilding Fire Station #2 on Palmer Road.​

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  • Purchased 2 new fire engines and 2 new ambulances to replace our aging fleet. 

       As apart of the $26 million in taxpayer funding that the City of Westland got from the American Rescue Plan we invested

       in purchasing 2 new fire engines, including 1 new ladder fire truck, and 2 new ambulances to replace our aging fleet.

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  • Purchased new, more environmentally sustainable hybrid police cars and an all-electric F150 Lightning. 

       As apart of the $26 million in taxpayer funding that the City of Westland got from the American Rescue Plan we invested

       in purchasing a fleet of new, more environmentally sustainable, hybrid police patrol cars to upgrade our aging fleet. We

       also purchased a new, all electric, Ford F150 Lightning truck that will be used for community policing efforts.

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  • Supported our first responders with Hero Pay.

       As apart of the $26 million in taxpayer funding that the City of Westland got from the American Rescue Plan we

       allocated $300,000 to support our dedicated and hard working first responders with a Hero Pay bonus for having

       worked through the pandemic.

MY PLAN FOR FOR A SAFE AND JUST WESTLAND

  • Have fair and equitable policing by implementing a Citizens Oversight Board to work with our PD: 

       In the wake of numerous incidents of law enforcement misconduct in our own community here in Westland, and with

       cases receiving national attention like the deaths of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Malice Green, Philando Castile,

       Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and so many others, I believe we need to bring citizen oversight and accountability to our

       police departments and further our commitment to end the systemic bias and racism in law enforcement.​

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  • Implementing a Civilian Review Board is not about punishing our men and women in law enforcement or making it harder to do their jobs, it is about increasing transparency and keeping them accountable to us as citizens. A Civilian Review Board would allow for allegations of police misconduct or alleged wrong doing to be reported to a board of 3-5 individuals who are residents of the City Westland. After the incident is received, the board would review it together and determine whether further action or an independent investigation is needed. The board would have the responsibility to work with the city's administration and the police department to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the alleged incident of bias or misconduct.

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  • Staffing and resources for our Police Department: 

​       Ensure our Westland Police Department has adequate and up-to-date resources and appropriate staffing levels to keep         them safe on the job and residents safe in our community.

 

       Additionally, we need to pay our Police Officers better so that we continue recruiting the best officers possible to work 

       in our community. Rouge Police Officers who violate the law and rights of others are one of the biggest legal liabilities 

       that communities can face and we need to ensure that our Officers well paid, comparable to our neighboring

       communities so that we don't lose them to other cities or the private sector.

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  • Support people's mental healthcare needs:

       Criminal justice and policing can't just be about arresting and incarcerating people. We need to have programs and

       services that reduce reincarceration rates, keep people out of jail, and give them the social support services they need.

       That's why I believe that the City of Westland should expand its mental healthcare service by hiring an 2-3 additional

       Social Workers to work with the Police Department and people in need here in Westland. 

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  • Support the mental healthcare of our first responders:

       There are few jobs out there that are more stressful and more dangerous than being a Police Officer, Firefighter or

       Paramedic. The men and women behind the badges and turnout gear are human beings, who feel all the emotions that

       life throws at them, just as we all do. They are capable to feeling happy and sad, stressed and anxious. They are capable

       of the same mental and emotional burnout that we are all prone too as a result of whatever life gives us. I believe we

       owe them a great debt of gratitude for the work they put in. We owe it to them to look after their mental and emotional

       wellbeing. We owe them tools, resources , and people who can help them deal with the stress of their dangerous jobs.

 

       That is why I believe we should not only have Mental Healthcare Professionals and Social Workers who work with

       residents in our community, but people who can be their for our first responders as well. I want to see the City of

       Westland invest in and hire a mental healthcare specialist who can work directly with our first responders to ensure

       their mental healthcare needs are being taken care of. To ensure they are of not only sound body and physical shape to

       be able to do their jobs safely and effectively, but of sound mind and emotion as well. Our inner-agency Mental

       Healthcare Professional would work directly with individuals in both the Police and Fire Department to do routine

       wellness checkups and be there as a resource during a first responders time of need. They would be able to our first

       responders better address their mental healthcare needs before it gets to a crisis point.

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  • Supporting more resources and increased staffing for our Fire Department: 

       We need to better provide adequately staffing our Westland Fire Department. We must ensure appropriate staffing

       levels at each fire station in Westland for our Firefighters and Paramedics. We have to move beyond the federal SAFER

       Grant and hire on our 13 Firefighters who currently work on the grant as fulltime city employees. As well, we must hire

       between 12-16  additional Firefighters so we can have more EMS Rescues and Fire Trucks on duty servicing

       the people and businesses of Westland.

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  • Protect the healthcare and retirement benefits of our first responders: 

       Public safety officials like Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and Paramedics have one of the most dangerous jobs

       imaginable. They have already had to make sacrifices as apart of their daily work. We should ensure that they have

       secure pension plans, without tiers, to retire on and high quality healthcare benefits. While we must control our cities

        legacy costs, Police and Fire officials retirement should not continue to bare the burden of cuts and restructuring.

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