DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — After a series of road fatalities last year, Dearborn’s new Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and new Police Chief Issa Shahin have made road safety a priority ever since they took office just over two months ago.
"Today is March 1st and you are going to see heightened increase in traffic enforcement on the streets of Dearborn, beginning today and throughout the rest of summer for the very least," said Shahin.
And to lead by example, the chief himself took on patrolling duties on Monroe and Outer Drive, one of the hotspots for speedsters.
"What I really hope, Faraz, is that residents and people that travel through our city are mindful of the enforcement and hopefully they modify their driving habits because the last thing we want to do is write tickets to people," said Shahin.
Two weeks ago, 7 Action News' Faraz Javed went on a ride-along with the newly launched traffic unit. And now the chief is taking a step further.
"That’s four officers and a supervisor, I'm talking about the entire police department. 184 officers are going to be out there at various times throughout the day conducting traffic enforcement activities," said Shahin.
As the traffic stops continued, Donna Cantor, a lifelong resident of Dearborn, was really pleased with the latest road safety initiative as she has witnessed several crashes over the years.
"We’ve had terrible accidents where they’ve gone into my neighbor’s backyard. In one week, there were three accidents on this corner," said Cantor.
Cantor was also pleased to see more police officers patrolling the neighborhoods.
"We don’t lose focus that we can’t do this job alone, it takes a community to be the police and we work hand in hand with our community," said Cpl. Dan Bartok, a public information officer with the Dearborn Police Department.
As for the future plans, the chief says the police department and the city plan to roll out educational programs across schools as well as study traffic patterns to make roads safer.
