Columbus Police reconsidering ban on officers wearing headscarves

(WOSU) Columbus Police Interim Chief Tom Quinlan says he is considering changing a department policy that forbids officers from wearing headscarves.

Quinlan says officers cannot currently wear headscarves because of safety concerns.

“Some of our concerns are, again, wearing gas masks, wearing proper headgear, giving someone something they can grab a hold of and pull someone around with,” Quinlan says.

In 2015, a Somali-American Muslim woman named Ismahan Isse dropped out of the Columbus Police academy because of the ban. At the time, then-Mayor Michael Coleman supported the policy.

“Coleman says when officers go out into the community they should be identified as Columbus Police officers, not Muslim police officers or members of any other religions,” reports an Associated Press article from 2015.

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