Author: Reporter
Publication: Daily Mail
Date: July 1, 2008
URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030798/Muslims-outraged-police-advert-featuring-cute-puppy-sitting-policemans-hat.html
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting
in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number
has sparked outrage from Muslims.
Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number
has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.
The choice of image on the Tayside Police
cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised
with Chief Constable John Vine.
The advert has upset Muslims because dogs
are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers
in Dundee have refused to display the advert.
Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said: 'My
concern was that it's not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the
cards.
'It was probably a waste of resources going
to these communities.
'They (the police) should have understood.
Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part,
and that if they'd seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn't have done
it.'
Councillor Asif, who is a member of the Tayside
Joint Police Board, said that the force had a diversity adviser and was generally
very aware of such issues.
He raised the matter with Mr Vine at a meeting
of the board.
The chief constable said he was unaware of
the concerns and that the force had not sought to cause any upset but added
he would look into the matter.
Councillor Asif said: 'People who have shops
just won't put up the postcard. But the police have said to me that it was
simply an oversight and they did not seek to offend or upset.'
Cards featuring police dog-in-training Rebel
have been distributed to communities throughout the area to advertise the
single number point of contact for non-emergency calls to the police.
Rebel has proved a popular recruit for Tayside
Police after coming through the very first Lothian and Borders Police dog-breeding
programme in February.
One of seven German Shepherd pups born in
early December, he has now completed his course of inoculations, and is free
to venture out onto the streets of Tayside.
A spokesman for Tayside Police said: 'Trainee
police dog Rebel has proved extremely popular with children and adults since
being introduced to the public, aged six weeks old, as Tayside Police's newest
canine recruit.
'His incredible world-wide popularity - he
has attracted record visitor numbers to our website - led us to believe Rebel
could play a starring role in the promotion of our non-emergency number.
'We did not seek advice from the force's diversity
adviser prior to publishing and distributing the postcards. That was an oversight
and we apologise for any offence caused.'
