Posted on 09/22/2009 4:26:14 AM PDT by Born Conservative
To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality.
But in the 35th District, which covers Logan, Olney and adjacent neighborhoods, apparently a hairdo will do it.
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.
"They pulled him out of roll call and took him right up to the inspector's office," said an officer who asked to remain anonymous.
Reached last week, Strain declined to comment about the hair hubbub.
But multiple officers in the 35th say it's been hot gossip, overshadowed only by worries of potential police layoffs, which were averted Thursday when the state agreed to help alleviate the city's budget woes.
"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."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
“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.”
Where the decsion makers BLACK?
I ask because Whoopee and other blacks are allowed to call fellow blacks “niger” but WHITES are not.
More double standards based on RACE?
Personally I think police should be required to dress professionally and that cornrows look very low class and undignified. I think officers, regardless of race, should not be able to wear them. Nor mullets, afros above a certain size, mohawks, long hair on men etc, etc, etc.
But were this dumbass to wear a dress to work he’d still be on the beat.
Nah, he’d still have been taken upstairs...............but for different reasons...........;^)
Just get used to it. There is a double standard, but there is little that can be done about it as long as the courts allow it.
There was also a big battle in Fire Departments about blacks with beards.
Blacks claimed that they have follicles that cause them to get bumps when they shave and the Fire departments claim the mask doesnt get a good seal with beards,
Of course the Departments lost. When the subject of rules over race comes up the rules lose every time. It’s political correctness carried too far, but it’s the nature of the country these days.
It look gang-like in my mind. But hey, I have a problem with cops covered in tatoos as well. Its hard to tell the inmates from the cops sometimes.
Pass the Popcorn because the Union Rep and Lawyer are going to have a blast with this one.
He should have gone with dreadlocks. They look much cooler than those ugly cornrows.
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