Kadra became Minnesota’s first hijab wearing police woman

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Thursday 28 May 2015 - 12:30 Makkah mean time-10-8-1436 (Google image) Minnesota, (IINA) – Kadra Muhammad has become Minnesota’s first hijab wearing police woman and the first Somali female officer, according to media reports. Kadra, 21, joined the St. Paul police department in March last year as a community liaison. At the time, the department approved an option for employees to wear the hijab. She is the first officer in Minnesota to wear one. Officer Kadra and her classmates will join a force of more than 200 full- and part-time police officers who work in the transit system, which includes both light rail and buses. The recruits “truly represent, in many ways, all of the diversity of the Twin Cities area,” said Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington, adding that the class includes officers who speak two or even three languages. “It really does mean that when we have a passenger whose primary language is Spanish, or Somali, or Hmong or Arabic, we can now directly communicate with them.” “Both culturally and linguistically, Kadra really does give us some great opportunities to make sure we are serving all of the transit-riding public,” Harrington said. It is noteworthy that St. Paul police department is also one of the few American Police departments that allows women to wear the hijab while working. This way, they hope to enable Muslim women to consider a career in law enforcement. SM/IINA