Post Office in Houston named after Sikh police officer killed in line of duty

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A post office in Houston, TX was formally named after late Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal who was shot to death during a routing traffic stop September 27, 2019.

Elected officials, law enforcement officers, and Houston community members gathered to honor Officer Dhaliwal with a post office naming ceremony held Oct. 5, 2021, according to a press release from Sikh Coalition, whose representative Manpreet K. Singh was present at the event.

The post office located at 315 Addicks Howell Road will henceforth be named the Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office Building.

“Since my son was taken from our family in a senseless act of violence, we have received an outpouring of support and love from the greater Houston community,” Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, the late Deputy Dhaliwal’s father is quoted saying in the press release. “We are so grateful and so honored that Sandeep is being memorialized in this way–forever becoming a part of the city that he served faithfully in and out of uniform.”

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, D-TX, introduced a bill which received bipartisan support including that of Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, which was signed into law on December 21, 2020.

The Sikh Coalition said it had assisted with drafting the legislation that named this post office in Deputy Dhaliwal’s honor, and had worked to mobilize community members across the country to call on Congress for this and other initiatives to honor his memory.

The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund helped Congresswoman Fletcher’s office in organizing the Oct. 5 event.

“It has been an honor to lead the effort to honor the life and contributions of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal by naming this post office in his memory,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “Deputy Dhaliwal represented the very best of our community: he worked for equality, connection, and community through his life of service to others.  The Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office now stands as a testament to his remarkable and selfless service, and I thank our partners at the Sikh Coalition for helping us build a bipartisan coalition to honor Deputy Dhaliwal and his trailblazing contributions to American life.”

Officer Dhaliwal originally joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in 2009; in 2015, he secured a historic, first-of-its-kind accommodation to wear his Sikh articles of faith while serving in uniform.