Dearborn Heights officials said they had pulled back a short-lived effort to introduce an Arabic-language police patch after the prototype sparked public outrage and drew criticism from national figures.
The Dearborn Heights Police Department said the image circulated on Sept. 3 was a digital mock-up showing the words "Dearborn Heights Police" in Arabic and that the design was presented internally as an optional idea, not an approved change to uniforms. Two days after the mock-up circulated, Mayor Bill Bazzi and the department said the patch "remains an idea and should NOT have been presented as an official prototype."
In a Facebook post, the department said the mock-up "was an internal discussion among some within the police department which was not put forth for consensus or further review." The department added that the patch had been described to some as optional and that any formal effort to change uniforms would involve "multiple PD stakeholders for a larger conversation, to ensure all are included in the discussion."
Mayor Bazzi, who was born in Lebanon and who endorsed Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign, reiterated that uniform changes "merit the review and input of all." The public statements were issued after GOP critics seized on the image. Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Fine condemned the idea, framing it as evidence of "Sharia Law" coming to Michigan, a characterization rejected by local officials.
Dearborn Heights and the adjacent city of Dearborn have among the largest Middle Eastern and North African populations in the United States; the most recent census estimates put the Middle Eastern or North African share of Dearborn Heights' population at about 39 percent. The cities have been at the center of wider political attention in recent years. The Wall Street Journal once labeled Dearborn the country's "Jihad Capital," and last year a pro-Palestine rally in the area attracted controversy after some participants chanted "death to America," according to reporting.
The episode in Dearborn Heights unfolded amid heightened sensitivities around language, identity and the war in Gaza, which has sharply divided many communities, including Muslim voters in Michigan. Mayor Bazzi drew attention in the 2024 campaign when he joined a campaign event with then-candidate Trump and local Imam Belal Alzuhairi; the imam told the crowd at the time, "We, as Muslims, stand with President Trump because he promises peace, not war," remarks that drew both applause and scrutiny.
The controversy also overlapped with debate over President Trump's policy proposals for the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined a U.S. proposal that the president described as a plan for the Gaza coastline, a vision critics say could risk the displacement of Gaza's roughly two million residents and raise questions about American responsibilities in any post-conflict administration.
Local officials emphasized that the badge design had not been vetted or authorized and that any formal changes to uniforms would follow internal review. "As we are one PD, each individual's uniform represents the DHPD as a whole, and therefore merits the review and input of all," Bazzi said in the statement posted by the department.
The department did not immediately provide a timeline for whether the idea would return for formal consideration. The incident highlights the political sensitivity of symbols and language in communities with concentrated immigrant and Muslim populations and the potential for local administrative actions to become national political flashpoints.
Representatives for Rep. Fine did not immediately comment beyond the public criticism. The Dearborn Heights Police Department and Mayor Bazzi's office provided the statements posted on social media but did not offer additional interviews on Monday.
The mock-up episode follows months of intense political debate in Michigan over foreign policy, community identity and electoral politics. Voter behavior in Dearborn-area communities proved consequential in 2024, with some residents initially abstaining in primaries over war-related divisions and others later reconsidering their votes as events in the Middle East and national policy developments evolved.
For now, city and police leaders said the Arabic-script patch will remain an internal concept until a broader, consensual review process can be completed.