NYPD gets first female turbaned Sikh auxiliary police officer

Gursoach Kaur will join the New York Police Department as an Auxiliary Police Officer (APO) after graduating last week from the New York City Police Academy.

"We are proud to welcome first Sikh turbaned female Auxiliary Police Officer in the New York Police Department. APO Gursoach Kaur and other Auxiliary Police Officers graduated from the academy. We are proud of you. Stay safe. #sikhsinlawenforcement," the Sikh Officers Association tweeted.

The association said in a Facebook post that it is "proud" to welcome Kaur to the Police Department.

"Your service will be a motivation for others to join the Law enforcement Family," it said. The association is the nation's first organisation to represent Sikh Officers in Law Enforcement.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri also tweeted about Kaur, expressing hope that a turbaned lady officer will help create better understanding of Sikhism in the US.

"Delighted to see a turbaned lady officer in NYPD. Hope this fosters better understanding of Sikhism and Sikhs and corrects perceptions in the US so that incident which happened with me in 2010 and recently with Canada minister Navdeep Bains do not recur. Sikhs are ambassadors of harmony," Puri tweeted.

He was referring to the 2010 incident in which Puri, then Ambassador to the UN, was asked by airport officials to remove his turban during a security check at Houston Airport. When Puri refused to remove his turban, the officials made him wait for over half-an-hour in a 'holding room'.

The matter was resolved only after a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official, accompanying Puri, intervened. India had lodged a protest with the US authorities over the incident.