NRI, police
chief inspector Honoured “Asian Women of Achievement Awards”
winners
London, May 26, 2006
Ram Choudhry
NRI sikh woman Parma Sandhu, London Police’s Chief Inspector,
the only Asian woman who played a high-profile role in reassuring
communities after the 7/7 bombings, have won awards in UK in recognition
of their contribution to their respective fields.
There are total 492 chief inspectors including 38 women. Few
women make it to the top of the police service, with only one
in 13 Met chief inspectors being female. Mrs Sandhu, 42, was named
an Asian Woman of Achievement for attaining the highest rank for
an Asian female police officer in the UK.
Parma, mother of two, kept her job a secret from her parents
for six months. Her father Malkit Singh and his wife Gurmaj Kaur
tried to stop their daughter from carrying on in the force, fearing
her life would be at risk. Malkit of Handsworth, Birmingham, came
to Britain about 50 years ago and his wife arrived from India
to join him seven years later.
At the age of 18, Mrs Sandhu left school, but a variety of jobs
left her dissatisfied until, at 24, she took a post as a fraud
investigator for social services and found her calling as a crime-fighter.
She received the AWA public sector award at a ceremony last night
in the Hilton hotel, central London. It was now a “changing
environment”, Chief Inspector Sandhu said adding: "Often
I will go to senior meetings and I will still be the only woman
and the only black woman."
