Scotland Yard immediately celebrated the 50th becoming a member of anniversary of Karpal Kaur Sandhu.
London:
Scotland Yard has celebrated the 50th anniversary of Karpal Kaur Sandhu becoming a member of its ranks as the primary South Asian and Sikh feminine police officer, paving the way in which for others to comply with in her footsteps.
Police Constable (PC) Sandhu served the Metropolitan Police in London between 1971 and 1973 and has been dubbed as a “true pioneer” for police forces throughout the UK.
“PC Karpal Kaur Sandhu was a real pioneer and forward of her time. I’ve little doubt that her determination to affix the Met Police in 1971 was a courageous one and he or she would have confronted appreciable challenges alongside the way in which,” mentioned Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball on Monday.
“As Britain’s and the Met’s first Asian feminine officer, Karpal paved the way in which for therefore many others who’ve gone into policing since 1971. Fifty years to the day (Monday) after PC Sandhu joined the Met, I’m happy that we’re capable of keep in mind her life, her profession and the legacy she has left policing,” she mentioned.
The National Sikh Police Association UK joined forces with the Met Police Sikh Association for a particular digital occasion in reminiscence of PC Sandhu on Monday.
“Today, along with representatives from the Met”s Sikh Association, Met cops and workers and the broader Sikh neighborhood, we keep in mind Karpal”s particular contribution to policing, because the UK’s first feminine Asian and Sikh police officer,” mentioned Ravjeet Gupta, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association.
“Karpal was a useful ambassador for the Met who helped break down limitations with London”s communities and can at all times be remembered for being a trailblazer of her time,” mentioned Mr Gupta.
PC Sandhu was born to a Sikh household in Zanzibar, East Africa, in 1943 and got here to the UK in 1962, the place she bought a job as a nurse at Chase Farm Hospital.
She joined the Met in 1971 on the age of 27, the place she served at Hornsey police station earlier than transferring to Leyton in east London.
“I’m so happy with my mom, and her legacy because the UK’s first feminine police officer from an Asian and Sikh background. It’s fantastic that fifty years on she is remembered, and is an inspiration to generations of recent feminine cops becoming a member of the Met,” mentioned Romy Sandhu, Karpal Kaur Sandhu’s daughter.
At a time when there would have solely been about 700 feminine officers within the Met, she was each the primary feminine Sikh and feminine South Asian police officer within the UK.
Writing in a report on the time, her Chief Superintendent mentioned that she was “proving invaluable with our dealings with the immigrant inhabitants and he or she can be aiding different divisions on this work and in addition in instructing cops Asian dialects”.
He added that she was “energetic, clever and conscientious” and loved enjoying hockey and driving.
The Met Police mentioned that PC Sandhu handed away in “tragic circumstances” in November 1973 and sadly, the pressure misplaced a promising officer who had a brilliant future.
Sandhu, aged 30, was killed in an altercation together with her husband, who was reportedly against her profession alternative and was later sentenced to life imprisonment for her homicide in 1974.
