:dateline:Sikh American police officers in the nation’s capital can wear the turbans and beards associated with their religion under a policy announced Wednesday by the D.C. police department.
Sikh community leaders said they know of no other major metropolitan police department with a written policy ensuring that Sikhs can maintain turbans and full beards while serving as full-time officers, though other law enforcement agencies have made less formal accommodations.
The change will have minimal practical effect, at least initially. The department’s only Sikh officer is a reserve who is scheduled to graduate from the police academy in August. But advocates for Sikh rights said the change was significant and could encourage other Sikhs, who have a long history in law enforcement, to join.
“I think it’s a step forward not only for civil rights and religious freedom, I think it’s a step forward for law enforcement,” said Jasjit Singh, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which pushed for the change. He said the public benefits when police departments represent the diversity of the communities they serve.
The special order permits Sikh officers to tie their beard in a knot and tuck it beneath their chin and to wear a turban at all times unless it conflicts with an assigned duty � such as responding to a riot � that requires them to wear a helmet. The turbans are supposed to match the color of the department-issued caps � blue � and display the same badge or plate as seen on the caps.
Police departments routinely ban beards for safety reasons, such as the need to ensure that an officer can be fitted for a gas mask, though exemptions are made for medical conditions. Officers seeking to waive the grooming requirements would be expected to seek permission from the chief, who would decide on a case-by-case basis.
D.C. police officials described their new policy as a commonsense way to preserve religious freedom without compromising an officer’s safety.
“If in fact they had to don, say, a helmet for a protest, then they could wear a smaller turban � so there are exemptions that could be made to that,” Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke said in an interview.
The special order took effect last December but was not announced until Wednesday because of scheduling issues and to give the policy some time to be in place, Singh said.
Sikhism, a monotheistic faith, was founded in South Asia more than 500 years ago and has roughly 25 million adherents worldwide. Observant Sikhs do not cut their hair � covering their heads with turbans � or shave their beards.
Sikh advocates say there are only a handful of Sikh police officers nationwide, though Sikhs are a much more visible presence in police forces in places including Canada and Great Britain.
“Sikhs are warriors. We always have volunteered ourselves into law enforcement, Army, anything you can think of,” said Jagjit Singh, an observant Sikh and a reserve deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County who says he fought for the right to wear articles of faith on the job.
There are signs of a growing acceptance of Sikh personnel within law enforcement. Last year, the state of California settled a lawsuit from a Sikh man who said he was prevented from becoming a prison guard because he refused to shave his beard. The state did not change its grooming rules under the settlement but agreed to pay the man $295,000 in damages and gave him a position as a corrections department manager. The U.S. Army has also permitted observant Sikh officers to serve in recent years.
The New York Police Department permits the type of turban that can fit under a uniform hat, and full beards can be worn for religious reasons with permission from the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
“When somebody’s being robbed, nobody cares whether the person who is helping them is wearing a turban or not. They just want help,” said Amardeep Singh, program director of The Sikh Coalition, a Sikh civil rights organization. “We haven’t reached a stage in our culture yet where people understand that it’s the actual ability to do the job rather than the uniform that matters.”
