Muslim woman awarded $85,000 after her hijab was forcibly removed by Long Beach police officer - LA Times
What to stop anyone wearing a hat from claiming its a religious hat? Where do you draw the line? What is you have to search her? Also where in the Koran does it say she has to wear one anyways...nonsense. I hope you don't think that's a good thing Abner?
To be honest, I am surprised this person won her lawsuit. It seems like the cops should have the right to remove head gear of any kind, across the board.
Pastafarians have had mixed results in demanding to wear their colanders for ID photos. Silly but true.
Well, it's a tricky situation, isn't it? It's important to understand the violation she feels- she said she felt "naked". Imagine if we read that a woman was stripped naked and left in the cell overnight as men passed her by. To most of us, that is not an equivalent situation, but to her it is. Whether you think she should feel that way, or whether you think it is wrong for her religion and culture to put such demands on her is a separate question. On the other hand, she was arrested under the suspicion of committing a crime. She was in jail. Loss of freedom is to be expected. Allowing religious garb creates an easily exploitable loophole on the banning of headgear, which exists for practical and safety reasons. Could they at least, after having inspected the hijab and having female officers inspect her hair, let her wear it while she was alone in her cell? Even if she had to take it off at other times?
You should probably be aware that there are "religious hats." Beliefs on Wearing Hats in Religion | Synonym Some of us belong to very small religions and we have our very specialized hats
Clearly, as you suggested, the Police could have handled it differently and that's why they lost the lawsuit. b4's question is a good one though and ultimately it's the point of the entire incident, "Where do you draw the line?" A certain amount of accommodation is a reasonable expectation but it would be easy enough to come up with hypotheticals that challenge any policy, regardless of how accommodating you are trying to be.