Houston post office named for Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal

Sandeep Dhaliwal

HOUSTON, Texas: Elected officials, law enforcement officers, and Houston community members gathered on Tuesday to honor fallen Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal with a post office naming ceremony.

As per a bill introduced by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (Democrat); passed with bipartisan support, including that of Senators Ted Cruz (Republican) and John Cornyn (Republican); and signed into law on December 21, 2020, the post office located at 315 Addicks Howell Road will henceforth be named the Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office Building.

The Sikh Coalition said it was deeply honored to assist in drafting the legislation that named this post office in Dhaliwal’s honor. In the weeks following his murder, it worked to mobilize community members across the country to call on Congress for this and other initiatives to honor his memory.

“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,” said Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, the late deputy Dhaliwal’s father. “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 in and out of uniform.”

At the naming ceremony, local law enforcement officers, elected officials, and community members–including Sikh Coalition board member Manpreet K. Singh–gathered to pay tribute to Dhaliwal’s memory. “We thank our colleagues at the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund for assisting Congresswoman Fletcher’s office in organizing today’s event,” said the Sikh Coalition.

“It has been an honor to lead the effort to honor the life and contributions of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal by naming this post office in his memory,” said Fletcher. “Deputy Dhaliwal represented the very best of our community: he worked for equality, connection, and community through his life of service to others. The Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office now stands as a testament to his remarkable and selfless service, and I thank our partners at the Sikh Coalition for helping us build a bipartisan coalition to honor Deputy Dhaliwal and his trailblazing contributions to American life.”

Dhaliwal was killed during a traffic stop in northwest Houston on September 27, 2019. He originally joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in 2009. In 2015, he secured a historic, first-of-its-kind accommodation to wear his Sikh articles of faith while serving in uniform. Dhaliwal was widely regarded for breaking barriers for Sikhs and other religious minorities.
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