The below excerpt is from an article entitled “Cop With Cornrows Pulled From Street Duty,” by Dana DiFilippo of the Philadelphia Daily News, and was downloaded from the website "philly.com" on Monday, September 21, 2009. Make of it what you will:
“…A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said. While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle, it didn't take long for his colleagues - or his bosses - to notice…”
"…It's absolutely discriminatory," said one officer. Strain's cornrows 'do "was neat. It was above his collar. It's not like he shaved a Nazi sign or something anti-black or anti-Hispanic on his head. It's just cornrows. I don't know what the problem is." The problem, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said, is that Strain's superior didn't feel his cornrows were "professional…"
“…Police policy requires officers to have "clean, properly trimmed and combed hair" that doesn't prevent them from wearing their uniform hat "in a military-manner," Vanore said. The policy prohibits "unnatural" hair colors such as blue, purple or green but doesn't ban specific styles, such as cornrows, mohawks, dreadlocks, or bouffants. Vanore didn't see Strain's cornrows, but speculated that they may have kept his hat from fitting his head in the required military manner. He couldn't explain why black officers with cornrows weren't ordered to get haircuts - unless they're women, because the hair policy for female officers is slightly more permissive…”
“…As for Strain, friends describe him as a hardworking cop who hails from a family of police officers and who adores police work. The former Marine served in Iraq, where he twice survived explosions when his Hummer hit roadside bombs in 2006, co-workers said. "He's a guy that, when things go bad, you want him there," one officer said. “
Nice.
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