Sikh Woman Given Highest Police Award in United Kingdom

May 26, 2006

Source: Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=387877&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ito=1490

On May 26, 2006 the Daily Mail reported, "When Parm Sandhu joined the police, she kept her job a secret from her parents for six months. As she predicted, the traditional Sikh couple were dismayed when she finally summoned up the courage to tell them. Labourer Malkit Singh and his wife Gurmaj Kaur tried to dissuade their daughter from carrying on in the force, fearing her life would be at risk. With their roots in the Punjab - and with neither speaking English - the thought of their girl being in the front line fighting crime was a world away from the future they had imagined for her. Yesterday the chief inspector in the Metropolitan Police proved them wrong when she was named an Asian Woman of Achievement for attaining the highest rank for an Asian female police officer in the UK. Few women make it to the top of the police service, with only one in 13 Met chief inspectors being female. But Mrs Sandhu, 42, beat the odds to become the sole Asian female chief inspector. She said: 'Initially I did not tell my parents I had joined the police because I knew I would face opposition. They were worried I would get hurt. But gradually they realised I can look after myself. My mother is over the moon about it now. She has a photo from my passing-out parade on the wall so all her visitors get to see it.'"