Sikh Officers in the New York Police Department will now be allowed to wear full turbans in accordance with the uniform.
Before the policy change, officers were limited to wearing a smaller wrap known as a patka beneath the official police cap.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill explains: “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.”
“It’s a major change in our uniform policy, so we had to go about it carefully. And now I have the opportunity to make the change, and I thought it was about time that we did that.
NYPD officer and president of the national Sikh Officers Association, Gurvinder Singh, adds: “Now I’ll be able to serve with my full turban on. It’s a great feeling. There will be a lot more Sikh officers now taking the next exam.”
As well as allowing officers to incorporate the turban into their uniform, the police department is also revising its rule on facial hair with new religious accommodations.
Previous policies had allowed for beards up to a millimetre in length. Now officers with approval may keep beards up to half an inch long.
Some leaders in the Sikh community applauded the policy change on turbans, but said the NYPD needed to go further with the policy on facial hair.
Kavneet Singh, a board member of the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund said: “While it’s definitely a great step, we look forward to reviewing the policy in depth and ensuring that Sikhs can serve with their turban and beards intact and with no limitations or restrictions to either.”
Only 12 police forces across the country have made religious accommodations to allow for Sikhs to serve with a turban and beard, according to SALDEF.
Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department was amongst the first major force in the country to enact such a policy in 2012, though no Sikhs currently serve there.
The NYPD had previously prohibited beards as they interfere with certain gas masks.
As the largest police force in the country, the NYPD prides itself on being one of the most diverse.
Religious exemptions have previously been made for female Muslim officers to allow them to wear head scarves, according to Lt. Adeel Rana, president of the NYPD’s Muslim Officers Society.
