Imagine calling 911 because a burglary had taken place at your house. The police show up, but instead of investigating the crime, they detain you and your family. This is what happened to Kawaljeet Kaur and her family in Harris County, TX on November 26, 2008. The deputies who had come to the Sikh household saw the kirpan Kaur was wearing, one of the five religiously mandated articles of the Sikh faith. A deputy pointed a taser gun at her and then called for backup. The family, including her 60 year old mother, was then handcuffed and detained. Due to this incident as well as evidence of a racist string of emails sent by the Sheriff at that time, the US Justice Department launched an investigation into the Harris County Police Department for alleged religious and racial discrimination. Recently, current Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia agreed to hire a third party internal affairs expert to monitor his department’s internal affairs division as well as develop “diversity and cross-cultural awareness” for current and new staff. I commend Sheriff Adrian Garcia for taking a step in a direction that will educate police forces about the diversity of America’s population as well as hold officers accountable for their actions. Law enforcement officers represent the law in our everyday lives. Whether that means calling 911 knowing that a deputy that knows the law will be showing up to help or having to slow down and actually stop at a stop sign, we have a degree of respect and expectation for policemen. However, when a representative of the law treats us unjustly based on racial or prejudiced grounds, that deputy is violating the very foundation of trust that we put into law enforcement. The actions of the deputies who detained Kawaljeet Kaur and her family were violating the first amendment of freedom of religion. They were not representing the law. This is why it is so critical to educate and inform the men and women who are most prevalent in the daily lives of Americans. If they are aware of the particular religious dress or practices that people of faith have in this country, they will be better equipped to discern non-threatening versus threatening situations, thereby enabling themselves to focus their time and resources to actual crime. To read more about the incident in Harris County, please click here.
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