Cadre of South Asian Police Officers Grows at HPD, Unnoticed by Community

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: If you didn’t do a double take, you’d have figured them for Latinos, given that many tanned South Asian features are easily confused. But leaning in as they sat around the table, you picked up the subtle signs – and then the name tags gave them away – of police officers from South Asia in the Houston Police Department. They were at the AAPI fundraiser on Saturday, October 14 to be honored onstage as unsung heroes from our community.

But they were eager to talk and introduce themselves. The eight who showed up that night (one, officer Amri, is a Moroccan-American) represent perhaps 15% of the total number of South Asian officers on the Houston Police force, out of a total of 5,000 officers, but that is much higher than the number just 10 years ago.

The desi community is more familiar with the affable officer Muzaffar Siddiqi who has been the face that has been at most functions. And over the past 20 years, through the tenures of several former HPD Chiefs, there were attempts made to hold cultural-sensitivity training for officers – which this reporter helped coordinate – so that they could be better acclimated to the diverse ethnic populations that exist across the city. Having more police officers from among these groups became a priority of HPD to better integrate the force with the people they serve and they eagerly began recruiting them. In Harris County, there is a Sikh Constable, Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, who completed his trained and got his badge two years ago.

One of the earliest South Asian who joined the HPD Academy in 2000 was Yasar Bashir, now a captain at the Midwest Division headquartered on Harwin Drive and Regency Square and whose area covers the Galleria, Southwest Management District and the Mahatma Gandhi District. Bashir, 41, rose to the rank of Captain – one of only two South Asian captains in HPD, the other being Salam Zia. He came to the US when he was eight and moved to Houston 22 years ago and  has a Masters degree in Criminology from the University of Houston.

The other officers at the AAPI gala were H. Amri (who is from Morocco), M. Mathews, Y.R. Haq, V. Patel, M. Qazi, Capt. Y. Bashir, M.A. Haider and Asif Qureshi.

Amri, 34, has been on the force for 5 years and is gang officer. Mathews, 44, hails from Kerela and has been with HPD for 7 years and handles crashes and vehicle investigations. Haq, 28, is from Karachi and with the force for 6 years, handling robbery. Qazi, 40, is also from Karachi and with 11 years on the force is a patrol officer. Haider, 42, also from Karachi, has 10 years with HPD and is also a patrol officer. Patel, 29, was born here, has been with the force 6 years and handles sex crimes and special investigations. She is also the only South Asian officer on the force.

“There are more desi officers in HPD,” said Bashir in a telephone interview conducted in his native Punjabi and English, “and several of them are deep undercover. But most of the desi officers are Pakistani, followed by Indian and are based out of Precinct 5 or 7.” He goes on the air once a month on Radio Dabang to talk about different topics to educate people on how to deal with police matters and would like to do more community interactions.