Lexington, Ky. (WTVQ) — It’s one of your worst fears, being arrested, taken jail and now you’re being booked.
Things can’t get any worse right?
They did for one Muslim woman in Lexington who was made to remove her hijab, or religious headdress.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says she even asked officers to leave it on in front of men, which is part of her religion, but she was forced to remove it anyway.
Upon being released, the woman and her attorney reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The organization then contacted the detention center and asked them to look into this incident, saying it violated her constitutional rights.
Chief Scott Colvin immediately began investigating.
“I committed to that review, I’ve completed it and I have made my policy revisions that I think come in line with balancing safety against trying to meet someone’s strongly held religious beliefs accommodations,” said Colvin.
Colvin signed the new policies revisions today and is hoping to put them into effect in the next 30 days, after everyone has been trained on the new policies.
“Going forward we will not require an individual being placed in our custody that is wearing a religious clothing, or headwear, to remove it in the presence of other individuals,” said Colvin.
Instead, they will be taken to another room with an officer of the same gender to remove it and will be able to put it back on after being searched.
The same rules apply for pictures. As long as officers can see the persons face, they will not be asked to remove it.
CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Mitchell says after looking into the incident, Chief Colvin asked them for help on the new policies.
“They asked us for our advice, to share any guidance we could give them from other cities and jurisdictions that successfully addressed this same issue,” said Mitchell. “So, we gave them some of that information from L.A, New York and Atlanta to help them craft their new policy.”
Colvin says he is thankful for CAIR’s help in making the new policies and for bringing this incident to his attention.
With these new policies the detention center is hoping to keep an incident like this from happening again.