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Somali woman on police force stirs controversy in St. Paul,
Minnesota
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ST. PAUL, Minn. Kadra Mohamed is a
regular at the Grocery and Meat Market on
this citys north side. She grew up in a public
housing project nearby and shopped here
with her mother as a girl.
In the store, she breathes in the familiar smell
of Somali spices and the bread she has loved
since she was a child.
The markets owner, Abdi Mohamed, steps
out from behind his shelves to greet her.
Kadra, its you, he says in the rhythmic
Somali language. He asks about her mother,
and then pauses. Its good to see you in
uniform.
Breaking New Ground
Kadra Mohamed, 22, is a new cop on the
beat. Shes a community officer paying a visit
to a local business owner a time-tested
community policing method. Mohamed is
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doing traditional police work, but at the same
time, shes breaking new ground: she is the
first female Somali officer in the St. Paul
Police Department.
There are more than 80,000 Somali Americans
in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,
making up the nations largest Somali
community. Relations between the immigrant
community and the city can be tense and a
police officer like Mohamed is one step
toward reducing tensions.
Each time she puts on her crisp blue-and-
white police uniform with its thick black
leather belt and handcuffs, Mohamed, who is
5-foot-1, also puts on her hijab, the
traditional headscarf worn in public by many
Muslim women.
Reaction to Mohamed has been mixed in this
Midwestern city of 290,000 residents. One
blogger objected to her wearing a hijab while
on duty, saying the department has placed
her life on the line in more ways than one.
Some officers have complained that by
wearing a hijab, Mohamed is breaking the
traditional uniform code. Mohameds hijab
has been modified with metal snaps so it can
come off in a scuffle.
Rules Can Be Changed
St. Paul Police Assistant Chief Todd Axtell said
all rules, even uniform codes, are made to be
changed. In the early 1970s, you had to be
at least 5-foot-8 to become a St. Paul police
officer, said Axtell, who is 5-foot-7. If that
rule hadnt been changed, I wouldnt be here
today.
Mohamed doesnt apologize for going into
police work. She once wanted to be a lawyer,
but changed her goal to police work because
she wanted to help her community.
Some criticism of Mohamed has come from
the Somali-American community itself. Older
Somalis say shes breaking cultural norms:
wearing pants and short-sleeve shirts, and
working closely among men in public. After
Mohamed passes her police exams, she will
apply for a job as a sworn officer, which
means she would carry a gun.
Mohameds hiring comes at a time of urgent
need for the Somali community. There has
been a rise in Somali street gangs such as the
St. Pistol Boys and Somali Outlaws and other
Somali American young people have left
Minnesota to fight with extremist groups in
Somalia, Syria and Iraq.
The tension between Somalis, many of whom
are Muslim, and the city is as high as it's ever
been since 2001, some say.
She Has "Defied Logic"
Enter Mohamed. (She) has defied logic for
whites and Somalis alike, said local activist
Omar Jamal. Shes a mystery to both
cultures.
Mohamed was born in a refugee camp in
Kenya in 1991, not long after her parents fled
Mogadishu, Somalias capital, and its nearly
daily bombings and violent chaos. Her
Ethiopian father, Hassan, and her Somali
mother, Zamzam, were joined by an arranged
marriage.
Love takes time, Mohamed said. Their
relationship started off cordially, then a
friendship developed before they grew into
loving one another. They got lucky.
The family eventually moved to the Twin
Cities, an area with a reputation for
welcoming new immigrants. Mohameds
parents had four more children two boys
and two girls.
Her father, an immigration case worker, died
when she was 12, and Mohamed grew up
fast.
Mohamed was attending St. Cloud State
University outside the Twin Cities when she
decided to start wearing a hijab. She quickly
learned about racism, as strangers told her to
take the towel off your head, and go back
to your terror state.
Showing A Friendly Face
As a community liaison officer, Mohamed is
often called on to translate, but most of her
duties involve showing a friendly face in
public housing projects, where many
immigrants live. She often rides with her
partner, Tom Lee, 24, who works in the
Hmong community of southeast Asian
immigrants.
Walking through a community cookout at a
housing complex, Mohamed runs into an old
friend, Nada Mohamed, who is also wearing a
hijab. Nada is proud of her friend, but said
older members of the Somali community
dont always agree.
They think shes crazy, she says. They dont
think a Muslim woman should be a police
officer, no matter if she wears a hijab or not.
Mohamed has decided to become a sworn
police officer, even if her mother insists she
wont let a gun in the house. I tell her,
Mom, youve been though a civil war, how
can you be afraid of guns?
One day, Mohamed might be working as a
gang unit officer or identifying political
extremists in her community. Shes not afraid
of arresting a Somali man, something that
would be unthinkable in traditional Somali
male-dominated culture.
Ill speak to him in our language Somali
to Somali, she says. Ill explain that this is
my job. He broke the law and there are steps
that must be taken.




1. What does the article mean when it states Hiring a female Somali officer is one step toward reducing
tensions?

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WRITE 3 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ARTICLE:
















2. What do older members of the Somali community think of her being on the police force?


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