LONDON: Scotland Yard Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of First Sikh Female Cop

LONDON: Scotland Yard has celebrated the
50th anniversary of Karpal Kaur Sandhu joining its ranks as the first South
Asian and Sikh female police officer, paving the way for others to follow 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 across
the UK.

“PC
Karpal Kaur Sandhu was a true pioneer and ahead of her time. I have no doubt
that her decision to join the Met Police in 1971 was a brave one and she would
have faced considerable challenges along the way,” said Assistant
Commissioner Helen Ball on Monday.

“As
Britain’s and the Met’s first Asian female officer, Karpal paved the way for so
many others who have gone into policing since 1971. Fifty years to the day
(Monday) after PC Sandhu joined the Met, I am pleased that we are able to
remember her life, her career and the legacy she has left policing,” she
said.

The
National Sikh Police Association UK joined forces with the Met Police Sikh Association
for a special virtual event in memory of PC Sandhu on Monday.

“Today,
together with representatives from the Met”s Sikh Association, Met police
officers and staff and the wider Sikh community, we remember Karpal”s special
contribution to policing, as the UK’s first female Asian and Sikh police
officer,” said Ravjeet Gupta, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Sikh
Association.

“Karpal
was an invaluable ambassador for the Met who helped break down barriers with
London”s communities and will always be remembered for being a trailblazer of
her time,” said Mr Gupta.

PC Sandhu
was born to a Sikh family in Zanzibar, East Africa, in 1943 and came to the UK
in 1962, where she got a job as a nurse at Chase Farm Hospital.

She joined the Met in 1971 at the
age of 27, where she served at Hornsey police station before moving to Leyton
in east London.

“I’m
so proud of my mother, and her legacy as the UK’s first female police officer
from an Asian and Sikh background. It’s wonderful that 50 years on she is
remembered, and is an inspiration to generations of new female police officers
joining the Met,” said Romy Sandhu, Karpal Kaur Sandhu’s daughter.

At a time
when there would have only been about 700 female officers in the Met, she was
both the first female Sikh and female South Asian police officer in the UK.

Writing
in a report at the time, her Chief Superintendent said that she was
“proving invaluable with our dealings with the immigrant population and
she is also assisting other divisions in this work and also in teaching police
officers Asian dialects”.

He added
that she was “energetic, intelligent and conscientious” and enjoyed
playing hockey and driving.

The Met
Police said that PC Sandhu passed away in “tragic circumstances” in
November 1973 and sadly, the force lost a promising officer who had a bright
future.

Sandhu,
aged 30, was killed in an altercation with her husband, who was reportedly
opposed to her career choice and was later sentenced to life imprisonment for
her murder in 1974.