New York, NY (July 15, 2013): The Sikh Coalition was reportedly invited back to the New York City Police Academy on June 24, 2013 to train its newest graduating class of police officers. This was the third time the Sikh Coalition has been invited to participate in the officer training. The Sikh Coalition had previously visited the Academy to present information about Sikhs in 2011 and 2012.
According to information available with Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) over 800 New York Police Department (NYPD) recruits were given information about Sikh beliefs, the significance of the turban and tips on how to interact with Sikh Americans. Much of the presentation focused on how to respectfully interact with a Sikh who wears a turban or kirpan. Each of the four officer presentations included a question and answer session and concluded with a turban tying demonstration.
“The Sikh Coalition would like to sincerely thank Jaspreet Kaur Bansal and Kiratbir Singh, two graduates of the Sikh Presenter’s Course, for leading these sessions”, reads a newsletter by the Sikh Coalition.
The Sikh Coalition has extene thanks to New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and the leadership of the New York City Police Academy for inviting the Sikh Coalition to conduct the training.
“The Sikh Coalition would especially like to thank Lt. Christine Seppa, Commanding Officer for the Curriculum and Evaluation Unit, for organizing these training sessions with the Sikh Coalition. The Sikh Coalition also thanks Police Officer Harinder Singh Khela of the Community Affairs Bureau for participating in and supporting the training sessions” the Sikh Coalition newsletter reads further.