Allow Turbaned Sikhs to Serve as Officers in the NYPD

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    Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD
  • Sponsored By:
    The Sikh Coalition
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Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor of New York City

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

As you are likely aware, thousands of Sikh Americans are industrious, proud and generous residents of New York City. Like all New Yorkers, Sikhs expect that they can always rely on their city government and the NYPD to reflect New York in all its diversity.

It is therefore with considerable distress that we report to you that Amric Singh Rathour, a Sikh born and raised in New York City, was fired by the NYPD because he refused to remove his turban, a religiously mandated article of faith in the Sikh religion. The undersigned therefore request your immediate assistance in revoking the discriminatory and unconstitutional no-turban rule currently employed by the NYPD.

Amric Singh was fired by the NYPD on July 27, 2001. His letter of termination cited a provision of the NYPD dress code that requires all police officers to wear a police cap on their head as the reason for his termination. To add insult to injury, the NYPD not only terminated Amric for refusing to take off his religiously-mandated turban, but out of ignorance offered him an opportunity to comply with the mandates of Islam rather than Sikhism. This lack of knowledge is very disturbing.

As you may be aware, thousands of Sikhs have and are proudly able to serve as police officers and soldiers with their turbans in numerous countries and cities around the world including Toronto, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi. We expect the same to be true in New York City. Towards this end, we request the immediate reinstatement of Amric Singh to the NYPD and revocation of the discriminatory No Turban rule. The Sikh Coalition and the undersigned look forward to working with your office and the NYPD to reach an amicable solution that would allow Sikhs to serve the city of New York as police officers with their turbans.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned


9070 Signatures

  • The Sikh Coalition
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, NY, USA
  • Amric Singh Rathour
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, New York
  • Harpreet Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Jersey City, NJ, USA
  • Sharon Scanlon
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Washington, DC USA
  • Seema Rai
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Albuquerque, NM, USA
  • Synta Keeling
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Arlington, VA, USA
  • Amardeep Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Pine Brook, New Jersey, USA
  • Harpreet Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Greeb Brook, NJ, USA
  • Manjit K. Gill
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Wauconda, IL USA
  • Kanwal Jot Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Green Brook, NJ , USA
  • Navjot K Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Green Brook, NJ, USA
  • Gagan Deep
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Iselin, NJ, USA
  • Raman Chadha
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Asbury, NJ, USA
  • Christian R, Williams
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Woodbridge, VA, USA
  • Prabhjot Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Jersey City, NJ
  • Harminder Kaur Bhalla
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • West Caldwell, New Jersey
  • Oren Sarch
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, New York
  • Ranbir Singh Bhalla
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • West Caldwell, New Jersey
  • Arundeep Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Westmont, IL USA
  • Gurpreet S. Malik
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Chappaqua, NY, USA
  • Gagan Kaur Sarch
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, New York
  • Daljit Singh Saini
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Melbourne, Florida
  • Dilbinder Kaur GIll
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • San Francisco CA
  • Pritpal Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Richmond Hill, NY, USA
  • Jasmit Singh Kochhar
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Olympia, WA, US
  • D Kaur
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Montreal: Quebec, Canada
  • Rabinder Pal Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York City
  • Deepa Kaur
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • San Jose, California
  • Harjit Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Elmhurst, NY 11373
  • Rajwinder Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Cambridge, MA
  • Tony Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, NY
  • Sant Chatwal
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York City
  • Parkashdeep Kaur
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Vermont, USA
  • Harmanpreet Nagi
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  • Sunnie Reynolds
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Vermont, USA
  • P Dhillon
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
  • Manmohan Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Detroit, MI, USA
  • Inderpreet Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
  • Anjit Kaur
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, NY 10009
  • meeta kaur
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • jersey city, nj, USA
  • Simranjit S. Grewall
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Buena Park, CA, USA
  • Giles Li
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Washington, DC, USA
  • Parmjit Singh Pawa
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Sahaj Khalsa
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Espanola, NM, USA
  • Deepinder Dhingra
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Quincy, MA, USA
  • Simran Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • New York, NY
  • Amrith Kaur Mago
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Washington DC, USA
  • Vivek Malhotra
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • San Francisco, California
  • Savinder Kaur Saini
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • McLean, Virginia
  • Gaurav Singh
    • City, State/Province, Country
    • Carol Stream, IL, USA