New York's Sikh police officers to replace hats with turbans

According to HSUNEWS " New York City has an increasing number of members of the Sikh population, and some of them are eager to join the New York Police Department (NYPD). The reason given for the ban was that beards interfere with certain gas masks.

But the regulation will soon be changed.New rules allowing Sikh police officers to wear turbans instead of traditional police hats have been introduced in NY, officials say. "We want to make the NYPD as diverse as possible, and I think this is going to go a long way to help us with that", NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill saiD Wednesday, standing in front of NYPD officers wearing the now-allowed navy blue turbans fastened with police brass. Turbans are integral to Sikh culture and identity and are worn by all adult men in addition to a beard. Now, they can wear black and blue turban with the force's insignia on it. The NYPD previously prohibited beards, and then only allowed beards to grow up to the one-millimeter length as an exception for officers who received medical or religious accommodations.

As part of an effort to maximize recruitment, the NYPD will permit its officers to wear religiously-mandated turbans and beards. However, approval from their commanding officer is required. But for some Sikh-American community leaders, the assurances Commissioner O'Neill made fell short of the ideal of religious freedom.

If this becomes an official policy, the NYPD will be joining other cities' police departments, such as Riverside in California and Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Army that are allowing their ranks to wear beards and turbans. According to Al Jazeera, Muslim women in the NYPD have been allowed to wear head scarves for years. The NYPD's change in policy sends out a strong message that Sikhs are also an important part of the USA population. That case, the New York Times reports, is still pending. But some officers say the rules have been sporadically enforced.

"Now I'll be able to serve with my full turban on". The department now has around 1,000 Muslim officers and 150 Sikhs. "There will be a lot more Sikh officers now taking the next exam"."We look forward to reviewing the written policy (which has not been shared yet) before determining whether this is a complete fix", wrote the Sikh Coalition in a Facebook post. Sikh and Muslim officers and civilians alike celebrated the news that the country's largest police force was reducing employment barriers that often specifically affect their communities but remained cautiously optimistic, unsure whether the new policy will adequately accommodate their religious requirements.