Sanjha Morcha

NY Police Dept to allow Sikh officers to wear turban

NY Police Dept to allow Sikh officers to wear turban
The move is aimed at encouraging the minority community members to join the police force. courtesy: twitter

New York, December 29

The New York Police Department will allow its Sikh officers to wear turbans and maintain beards, relaxing its uniform policy to promote inclusiveness and encourage the minority community members to join the force.New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced the measures being taken towards ensuring religious accommodation to its officers following a graduation ceremony for new police recruits yesterday.Under the revised policy, officers from the Sikh faith will be allowed to have beards that extend up to one-half inch from the face. The officers may also wear blue turbans — with a hat shield it affixed to it — in place of the traditional police cap.“We’re making this change to make sure that we allow everybody in New York City that wants to apply and have the opportunity to work in the greatest police department in the nation, to make sure we give them that opportunity,” the Commissioner said.Standing alongside Sikh officers after the grand graduation ceremony, O’Neill said the measures were aimed at making the NYPD “as diverse as possible”.“We changed our beard policy and our head covering policy. It is a major change in our uniform policy, so we had to go about it carefully,” he said. The Commissioner said there are about 160 Sikh officers currently in the ranks and he was looking to expand those numbers. He said the religious accommodation will give people from the faith the opportunity to join the police department.Sikh Officers Association, a group of Sikh officers, welcomed the move.Of the 557 recruits who graduated from the Police Academy, 33 are Muslims and two are Sikhs, according to the Police Department. — PTI