A Sikh community leader in New Zealand has said the NZ Police "violated tradition" in the recent recruitment video, which went viral and garnered over 6 million views.
Secretary General of the Supreme Sikh Society of New Zealand, Rajinder Singh told stuff.co.nz that he was concerned the way a Samon police officer is shown wearing a badly-wrapped turban in the NZ police recruitment video.
Constable Heber Gasu of Samoan descent is shown wearing a turban in the police recruitment video released in November.
"It is actually violating tradition, the Sikh way of tying the turban. It just looks a bit funny, it's not [the] proper way to do it . . . This is not right," Mr Singh said.
He said he wished a Sikh police officer had been portrayed wearing the turban instead of Gasu.
“If police could not use a Sikh officer, they could at least have used a Sikh actor,” Singh said.
A police spokeswoman told the stuff.co.nz that Gasu had a "close association" with the Sikh community and also part of a police group that performed a Sikh cultural dance at community events.
"There was no intention to cause offence by this constable appearing in the turban, but rather to show that we welcome all religions and backgrounds to NZ Police."
The spokeswoman said police had received one complaint regarding Gasu's appearance in the video, "and we have responded to that individual".
