Nearly a year after Dhaliwal was killed in a September 2019 traffic stop, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, proposed House Resolution 5317 to rename the post office facility at 315 Addicks Howell Road, Houston, the Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office. The entire Texas delegation co-sponsored Fletcher's bill, officials said.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, naming postal facilities in honor of important local and national individuals dates back to the 1960s and is now one of the most common forms of legislation enacted in Congress.
“I am honored to play a role in commemorating Deputy Dhaliwal’s remarkable life of selfless service,” Fletcher said in a statement. “He represented the very best of our community: he worked for equality, connection and community through his life of service to others. I was glad to work with a bipartisan delegation, our community partners, and those in the Sikh community, to pass legislation to rename this building the Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office.”
Dhaliwal was recognized nationally in 2015 for being the first Sikh American in Texas to receive a policy accommodation to wear his Sikh articles of faith, including his turban and beard, while serving in uniform. He was also the first Sikh police officer to serve in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and joined in 2009, according to a news release.
Many throughout Harris County knew Dhaliwal for his positive influence on the community and for exemplifying his Sikh faith through humanitarian work.
“Since my son was taken from our family in a senseless act of violence, we have received an outpouring of support and love from the greater Houston community,” Dhaliwal’s father, Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, said in a statement. “We are so grateful and so honored that Sandeep is being memorialized in this way—forever becoming a part of the city that he served faithfully both in and out of uniform.”
Watch the ceremony here:
