SALDEF leverages expertise and past experience to partner with MPD in comprehensive 10-month awareness effort Washington D.C. – August 17, 2007: The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) recently formed a partnership with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) of Washington, DC, to train all 3,000 officers of their force about the Sikh American community and their religious practices. The program, which has been ongoing since March 2007, has trained over 1,000 MPD officers to date. They join the roughly 5,000 local, state, and federal officers trained this year as part of SALDEF’s Law Enforcement Partnership Program (LEPP). “It is of paramount importance that we reach out to and create strong bonds with law enforcement,” said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “Law enforcement agencies understand the importance of actively engaging with the communities they protect and together through programs like our LEPP, we can create a stronger and safer community.” Despite being part of the American landscape for about one hundred years, misconceptions still exist about the Sikh American community. Nine out of ten LEPP graduates have reported that what they learned will immediately help them better serve and protect their communities. The training program is designed to provide law enforcement with an understanding of the Sikh religion and provide recommendations on how to appropriately interact with the community in non-emergency, non-crisis situations. The program utilizes a professionally designed interactive presentation, SALDEF’s Training DVD On Common Ground, and other educational publications including our Who are the Sikhs brochure and SALDEF’s pioneering Law Enforcement Reference Card. One MPD officer said, “[The SALDEF Program is] the best hour of training I’ve had in twenty years on the force.” Community leaders have also noted stronger and friendlier relationships between law enforcement and the Sikh American community. Since its inception, the heads of the over 150 agencies and 30,000 law enforcement and security officers who have gone through LEPP.
SALDEF to Train Entire Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
A recent initiative by the Department of Homeland Security would expand communication between its agencies and Arab, South Asian and Muslim youth in America. A conference on the issue, called “Roundtable on Security and Liberty: Perspectives of Young Leaders Post 9-11,” is being hailed by participants as a positive first step in repairing years of mutual mistrust.
“We’re dealing with profiling within our communities, and this provides us with a voice to change these problems,” said Rajbir Singh Datta, 25, of the Sikh American Legal Defence & Education Fund (SALDEF) of Washington, D.C., who participated in the conference. “When you’re a high school or college student, you are always dealing with these problems, but not sure how to solve them.” Datta, who lives in Washington, was one of 30 or so young leaders from a wide range of backgrounds who met with several government and law enforcement agencies at the conference, held at George Washington University in Washington in late July. “The youth want — and got access to — government people,” Datta said. Panel discussions ranged from “The State of Arab, Muslim, South Asian, Sikh, and Middle Eastern American Young People Today,” to how to get a job with the federal government. Datta said the best part of the conference was the frank discussions that took place between government officials — including Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff — and participants. “These are youth leaders within communities that are not already integrated with organizations that have a national voice,” Datta said. “You got an un-political response to questions from the government such as ‘How are we doing?’ ‘You’re doing horrible’; they knew they’d get a straight answer.” Datta’s group conducts educational outreach and sensitivity training about Sikhs — a group of non-Muslim South Asians that suffered intense post-Sept. 11 backlash as visible targets because of their traditional turbans. He said there are many positive steps the government has taken to improve community relations, but young people don’t seem to be aware of them. Hesham Mahmoud, of the New Jersey chapter of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, said his group regularly meets with law enforcement and government officials to try to improve relations. “We try to do as much as we can on the local level,” he said. “We meet to communicate our concerns when specific issues occur, and to keep lines of communication open.” Mahmoud said such relationships can benefit both groups — law enforcement feels they can build trust in more insular communities, and members of those communities feel their concerns are being heard. “It’s more a two-way communication,” Mahmoud said. “We always make it clear we are not spies in the community, but if we see something in the community of concern, we’ll definitely enforce the law.” Brett Hovington, chief of community relations for the FBI in Washington, one of the agencies that participated in the recent youth roundtable, said the agency is paying more attention to young people, especially in light of increasing radicalism among young immigrant groups throughout Europe. “For the FBI, it was an overall change in our mission, where we started to realize the importance of having a better understanding of the demographics in this country as they started to change,” Hovington said in a telephone interview from Washington Friday. “The community definitely wanted more communication with government, and at the FBI, we realized we had to make inroads into those communities — it was on both fronts.” Shaarik Zafar, of the Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which organized the conference, said it was refreshing to hear new perspectives on what it’s like to grow up as a Muslim, Arab-American or South Asian in a post-Sept. 11 world. “It was a very frank and constructive conversation with young people about the issues they face,” he said. “And we look forward to continuing the discussion.” Reach Samantha Henry at 973-569-7172 or henrys@northjersey.com [http://www.northjersey.com/]
SALDEF expresses need for recruitment of Sikh Americans and accommodation of Sikh articles of faith Washington, DC – June 19, 2007: Last week, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, took part in the first ever Intelligence Community Heritage Summit, hosted by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. The purpose of the Summit was to provide the Intelligence Community with an honest assessment of how they are viewed by communities including Arabs, Muslims and Sikh Americans. SALDEF, the only organization representing Sikh Americans at this summit, was one of the select few organizations to meet with officials from a range of intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA) and others. The Summit sought to strategize and develop new ways to ensure better recruitment and retention methods within communities that are critical to the mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community. In a prepared statement read at the event, SALDEF stated, “As a result of military uniform policies which prevent practicing Sikh Americans from enlisting in the armed services, the community has developed perceptions that this policy may be implemented across the board in all federal security agencies. Sikh Americans may therefore disregard and not pursue openings in the intelligence community, be it from the Army or even the FBI and CIA, until this perception is removed and official uniform policies changed to allow religious exceptions for the community.” SALDEF also highlighted the long and proud military, security, and intelligence history of the Sikh community across the world, and advocated for the Intelligence Community to encourage more diversity training and understanding of other cultures and religions, including Sikhs. Attending on behalf of SALDEF was Associate Director Rajbir Singh Datta, who said of the event, “This was a great first step in dispelling myths about each other and to learn how to foster more positive interaction. We look forward to continued discussion and opportunities to meet face to face with representatives of many Intelligence Agencies and ensure access for Sikh Americans and all people of faith.” SALDEF thanks the Director of National Intelligence and his staff for organizing this meeting, and the staff of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State for attending. SALDEF would also like to recognize and thank the FBI National Recruiting and Marketing Unit for serving as a “best-practices” model for outreach to the Sikh American community.
SALDEF working with FBI to increase service recruitment and retention within Sikh American Community Washington D.C. – May 25, 2007 – This past Sunday, May 20, 2007, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nations oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, co-sponsored an event with the Sikh Foundation of Virginia (SFV) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to increase recruitment of Sikh Americans into the Bureau. For the past several months, SALDEF has been advocating on behalf of the community for concerted efforts to increase the recruitment of Sikh Americans into the FBI. In meetings with National FBI Headquarters, FBI Washington Field Office, and the FBI’s Personnel Recruiting Unit (PRU), Bureau representatives have told SALDEF that Sikh American youth and young professionals, including those who possess Punjabi language skills, are highly desirable to the FBI. Speaking at the event were: Rajbir Singh Datta – Associate Director, SALDEF; Harjit Singh Chawla – Board Chairman, Sikh Foundation of Virginia; Gwendolyn Hubbard – Division Chief, FBI Personnel Resources Unit; Joseph Persichini – Assistant Director, FBI Washington field Office, Sunjeet Singh – Sikh FBI Analyst The purpose of this pilot event was to engage with the community and gauge the effectiveness of a possible national intitiative between SALDEF and the PRU to increase recruitment and retention of Sikh Americans into the FBI as special agents and professional support staff. “SALDEF is working closely with the FBI and other federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to encourage active recruitment efforts withing the Sikh American community,” stated SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “We urge Sikhs from across the country to collaborate with SALDEF to organize similar events in their local communities to explore opportunities with federal agencies.” Additionally, SALDEF is working with the Washington Field Office of the FBI and a number of Arab and Muslim organizations on a Future Agents in Training (FTI) program to recruit a total of fifteen high school students, aged 16 – 18, to participate in a week long event in Quantico, VA at the FBI Training Academy. This pilot program, if successful, has the potential to expand nationally and provide Sikh American youth with the unique opportunity to learn more about the FBI and its career options with an on-hands approach. If you would like to organize a similar event in your local community, please contact SALDEF at 202-393-2700 ext 27 or by email.
JOLIET, Ill. — Illinois’ Joliet Police Department is in hot water for the recent assault of a Sikh American by one of its police officers. The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund is seeking an immediate probe into the attack, calling it racially motivated and xenophobic. Kuldip Singh Nag, a decorated U.S. Navy veteran, was accosted by the police officer in his home for an expired vehicle registration tag. An altercation ensued and the officer assaulted Nag with his pepper spray and baton while saying anti-immigrant statements. “We are horrified at the anti-immigrant sentiment the officer allegedly used as he violently accosted Mr. Nag, and further that his 6-year-old son was a witness to this violent assault. We call upon both Joliet and Illinois officials to investigate this incident and for the Illinois community to stand in solidarity with Mr. Nag,” said SALDEF managing director Kavneet Singh.
GROUP SEEKS PROBE April 13, 2007 By BRIAN STANLEY Staff Writer JOLIET — A man says a police officer used excessive force and racial epithets while arresting him last month. The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) e-mailed a press release Thursday asking for an investigation into the March 30 incident. Joliet police Cmdr. Keith Turney said Thursday the department had not been contacted by the representatives of the man arrested, Kuldip Nag, 49, or SALDEF. “We have not received any complaint,” Turney said. “The first we learned of this was from the media.” Around 3 p.m. March 30, police responded to “an anonymous citizen complaint” regarding a vehicle parked on Nag’s driveway at 3574 Buck Ave. An unidentified officer spoke with Nag’s wife, Vera, about the van’s expired plates and learned the vehicle was inoperable. “The officer put a seven-day tow notice on the vehicle when he was approached by Mr. Nag, who questioned why he was putting a sticker on a vehicle in his driveway,” Turney said. “The vehicle was in public sight and there is a city ordinance against (parking inoperable vehicles),” he said. “Mr. Nag was upset the officer was on his private property telling him to move a vehicle he owned,” said SALDEF spokesman Rajbir Singh Datta. Both police reports and SALDEF’s release indicate a struggle followed between Nag and the police officer. Police say Nag pushed the officer and was subdued with pepper spray. SALDEF contends Nag did not touch the officer before he was sprayed. “As Mr. Nag screamed in agony, the officer removed his baton and violently struck Mr. Nag numerous times until he fell to the ground,” SALDEF’s release said. “While the assault ensued, the officer was reported by both Mr. and Mrs. Nag as saying, ‘You (expletive) Arab! You (expletive) immigrant, go back to your (expletive) country before I kill you.'” Turney said reports do not indicate the officer made these statements and that he was requesting backup during the struggle. He ceased struggling with Nag before other officers arrived. Datta said Vera Nag photographed her husband’s arrest. “She was so shocked and stunned at the officer’s behavior she went into the house and got a camera just inside the door,” Datta said. Nag was arrested on charges of aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting a police officer. As he was being booked at the police station, he complained of pain and was taken to Silver Cross Hospital. “Nag stayed for five days due to complaints of intense pain and head trauma,” SALDEF’s statement said. He “also received numerous bruises and a serious head injury which have caused him to go blind for several minutes at a time.” Nag was booked into the county jail following his release from the hospital April 3 and released on bond the next day. “He spoke to a community member who advised him to contact us,” Datta said. Datta said a letter detailing the incident and asking for an investigation was sent to the police department earlier this week. Datta said Thursday another letter would be sent after police said they had not received the first one. Reporter Brian Stanley can be reached at (815) 729-6079 or bstanley@scn1.com [http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/index.html] Joliet Herald News
SALDEF calls for immediate probe into assault and the xenophobic, anti-immigrant statements by police officer against bronze star recipient Washington D.C., April 11, 2007 — The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization in the country, today called upon the Joliet Police Department to investigate the actions of one of its officers when patrolling a local neighborhood. On Friday March 30, 2007 at around 3:00pm, Mr. Kuldip Singh Nag, a Sikh American who was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the U.S. Navy during the first Gulf War, was at his home in Joliet, IL when a local police officer noticed that a van parked on Mr. Nag’s private property had expired registration tags. Upon being confronted with this, Mr. Nag’s wife, Vera Kaur Nag, informed the officer that the van is parked on their driveway and was inoperable. Mr. Nag then came outside to answer the officer’s questions regarding the van. The Joliet police officer then demanded that Mr. Nag park the van inside his garage and not on the driveway, to which Mr. Nag responded to the officer that it was not possible and that regardless, the van is parked on his private property and he has a right to park it on his driveway. At this moment, the officer pulled out his pepper spray and attacked Mr. Nag. As Mr. Nag screamed in agony, the officer removed his baton and violently struck Mr. Nag numerous times until he fell to the ground. While the assault ensued, the officer was reported by both Mr. and Mrs. Nag as saying, “You f****** Arab! You f***** immigrant, go back to you f****** country before I kill you!” Mr. Nag’s wife and six year-old child both witnessed the violent assault, which resulted in Mr. Nag immediately being admitted to the hospital where he stayed for five days due to complaints of intense pain and head trauma. Mr. Nag also received numerous bruises and a serious head injury which have caused him to go blind for several minutes at a time “This case seems to be a clear incident of police misconduct in Illinois,” said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “We are horrified at the anti-immigrant sentiment the officer allegedly used as he violently accosted Mr. Nag, and further that his six year old son was a witness to this violent assault. We call upon both Joliet and Illinois officials to investigate this incident and for the Illinois community to stand in solidarity with Mr. Nag.” SALDEF has garnered the strong support of the Illinois Sikh American community and is currently working with The Chawla Group Ltd to represent Mr. Nag in a criminal case brought on by the City of Joliet.
(CBS13) YUBA CITY, Calif. If you want to be a police cadet you must shave your beard. That’s what one Sikh man was told in Yuba City. “They said the beard would not be allowed, no ifs and or buts,” said Uppal. A lesson in religious tolerance is playing out in Yuba city after 19-year-old Harvir Singh Uppal was initially told he would have to shave his beard if he wanted to be a police department cadet. “I was not given any reason and that was my last contact with the YCPD,” said Uppal. The Yuba City area is home to a growing Sikh community — and the controversy quickly spread because wearing a turban and beard is required religious clothing. After a civil rights organization in Washington D.C. heard about the case, they sent this letter to the police chief demanding he change his position. “If anything it’s all just a misunderstanding,” said Richard Doscher, YCPD police chief. Doscher says it was an officer, the director of the cadet program, who made the comment and it’s not department policy. The chief has since apologized to the organization and Uppal. At this point Uppal says he’s now too busy being a full-time student to re-apply with the department. But he has not ruled out a career in law enforcement. The civil rights organization is now applauding the chief’s commitment to the Sikh community and hopes other law enforcement agencies follow suite. (© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.) [http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_068013917.html] CBS13 Sacramento
SALDEF works with city officials to defend the rights of the Sikh American student Washington D.C. – March 7, 2007: The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, received a formal letter of apology from Yuba City Police Chief Robert Doscher for denying employment to Mr. Harvir Singh Uppal as he sought to become a police cadet. Mr. Uppal, a 19 year old student and adherent of the Sikh faith, was interviewed by Officer Kim Slade, Director of the Yuba City Police Department Cadet Program, for a position as a cadet. A week later, Mr. Uppal contacted Officer Slade to check the status of his application at which time he was informed upon conferring with the Chief of Police and the City Attorney that, “though the turban was acceptable, the beard does not conform to the uniform standards of the police department and it would have to be shaved off”. SALDEF contacted Yuba City Police Chief Doscher and Mayor John Miller informing them of the discriminatory nature of this policy and recommended the necessary steps to remedy the situation quickly and to the satisfaction of Mr. Uppal. In a letter of apology to SALDEF, Chief Doscher noted, “We [Yuba City Police Department] have no policy which precludes an employee of the Sikh faith from wearing a turban or beard (or possession of a kirpan) during their employment with us.” He added, “Please accept this as an unintentional oversight by one of my staff officers, which I take responsibility for. I can assure you that as of this writing, there is no misunderstanding any longer.” SALDEF thanks Yuba City Police Chief Robert Doscher for his immediate attention to this matter and reaffirming his department’s policy of encouraging religious diversity. SALDEF urges police departments across the nation to follow Chief Doscher’s example of welcoming individuals of faith to serve their communities without having to compromise their religious practices. Additionally, SALDEF commends the courage of Mr. Harvir Singh Uppal for asserting his rights as an American citizen. . If you, or anyone you know, believe they have been the victim of workplace or employment discrimination, please report it on our website or contact SALDEF immediately at 202-393-2700 or info@saldef.org.
Highlights need for increased outreach to Sikh American community and cultural competency training for FBI agents Washington D.C. – February 27, 2007: Yesterday, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation’s oldest national Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, met with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director, Robert S Mueller III. SALDEF, the sole Sikh American organization represented at the meeting, spoke to Director Mueller specifically about the importance of continued efforts to increase dialogue and communication amongst the leadership of America’s largest investigative and law enforcement agency and the Sikh American community. SALDEF also proposed the adoption and formalization of Sikh American Cultural Awareness and Protocol Training for each of their new recruits at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA and through local field offices across the country. “The benefits of incorporating SALDEF’s cultural competency training in the FBI’s training program will empower the FBI’s new recruits and current agents with the appropriate information about cultural practices of Sikh Americans in an effort to better utilize FBI resources,” stated SALDEF Chairman and Co-Founder Manjit Singh. “Such training will help in eliminating an incorrect, though, common perception of Sikh Americans as suspicious solely based on misunderstandings of their physical identity as a Sikh.” Director Mueller expressed his support for this initiative and cited this as a appropriate time to introduce it to the training curriculum for FBI agents, as the training period is being extended from eighteen to twenty-one weeks. Over the past 10 years, SALDEF’s Law Enforcement Partnership Program, has trained over 25,000 law enforcement officials across the Nation. With its emphasis on non-emergency and non-crisis situations, the training program is used to provide law enforcement officials with the appropriate tools necessary to serve the Sikh American community at-large. Additionally, SALDEF spoke about the need to continue outreach by the FBI to the Sikh American community as well increase efforts to recruit agents and analysts from the Sikh American community. To view a few examples of SALDEF’s previous meetings and collaborations with high-ranking government officials and federal law enforcement, please click here: Department of Justice and SALDEF Release New Law Enforcement Roll Call Training Video (1/19/2007) SALDEF and Department of Homeland Security Release Poster About Sikh Kirpan (11/21/2006) SALDEF Meets with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (4/29/2005) SALDEF Meets with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (4/15/05)