Karpal Kaur Sandhu

Sandhu was born in Zanzibar in 1943, before moving to Britain in 1962 and becoming a nurse at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield.^[1][2] She joined the Metropolitan Police Service aged 27 on 1 February 1971, serving first in Hornsey, then in Walthamstow and Leyton.^[3] Her date of joining made her the first female Asian police officer in Britain.^[2][4][5]

Sandhu died in the line of duty on 4 November 1973. Her husband did not agree with her becoming a police officer, claiming it was neither suitably Asian nor ladylike.^[6][7] Eventually, her husband confronted her outside her house in Chelmsford Road, Walthamstow.^[3] When her husband attacked her, she recalled herself to duty in order to arrest him. In March 1974 he was found guilty of her murder and received a life sentence.^[8][9]

• International Association of Women Police
• Kiran Bedi
• Suhai Aziz Talpur
• Women in law enforcement