ADL Commends D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Policy Allowing Sikh Officers To Wear Visible Articles Of Faith While On The Job

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) commends the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) policy change on May 16, 2012, which allows Sikh police officers to wear articles of faith such as turbans, beards, steel bracelets around their wrists, and small religious swords under their clothes. MPD is the first major metropolitan police department to enact this proactive policy.

"We applaud the strides Chief Lanier and the Metropolitan Police Department have made in making the police force a more inclusive environment where Sikh officers will no longer have to decide between their religious faith and their career path," said David C. Friedman, the Anti-Defamation League's D.C. Regional Director. "This decision demonstrates the core values of religious liberty and freedom that our country was founded upon, and what so many officers turn to while serving in the Department."

In announcing the policy change, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier noted that law enforcement is most effective when community members see parallels between themselves and officers within their local police department and communicated that "it is important that [the Metropolitan Police Department] has representation from all of our communities across Washington, D.C."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

SOURCE Anti-Defamation League

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