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Muslim outrage at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat
Last updated at 13:15pm on 01.07.08
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.
Tayside Police caused uproar in the Muslim community after they released this advertisement featuring police puppy Rebel sitting in a hat
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.
Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine said the advert was not intended to cause any offence
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.'
Reader views (16)
This is so ridiculous. Have people ever complained about police dogs being unclean before this poster. The dog is in a picture and wont jump out and give us a disease of any sort. People need to find better things to complain about. Next people will be complaining about Police dogs being used. When infact they do a better job than us. They do the jobs we are too scared to do. No-one would be complaining if that little dog grew up and saved someone's life. Or maybe they would complain that they got a little bacteria on them from the dog (have a wash then, lol). Oh my god I could go on and on and on.
- Nicola, Glasgow, UK
People are reacting with inflammatory words, but there is a distinct lack of detail as well as a conspicuous bias in this article. A few people call and complain and suddenly "UK Muslims are outraged!" How many people called? What was their specific complaint? Why are people so eager to use a few people to portray all Muslims? While I agree that Muslims who move to a secular country should be prepared to accept the climate of secularism, I also think that we should cultivate an understanding and respect for traditions that deviate from our own expectations. Some of us see the world differently, and we've got to learn to live together. Inflammatory articles like this one are not helping the cause.
- Paul, Minneapolis, USA
Way to go, Rebel! Last time I did that in a Policeman's hat it created all sorts of hate & discontent, too.
- Macrobert, Dixie, USA
Fine don't use the poster. Oh and get a sense of what's really important in the world.
- Peter, Chelmsford, UK
So what would they prefer a halal chicken?
- Stuart, London
Glad to see that people have nothing better to do. By the way, I'm offended by the yellow phone.
- S-M Hearmon, London, UK
A minority dictating to the majority -so that's how democracy works.
- Sarah, london
This claim of Muslim outrage is at odds with reports in Dundee's local press, which suggest that Councillor Asif’s comments have won little support among Dundee’s Islamic community.
- Austen, London
For God's sake .. it's a puppy! It' not as if they stuck a pig in a turban!
- Paul, London
This is exactly the reason why multiculturalism just doesn't work in Britain. We're constantly treading on eggshells.
Any excuse for a flare up.
- Stevie, London
Muslims should come to terms with the fact that they chose (nobody forced them) to come and live in a secular society - and the sooner they stop feigning offence at every opportunity, the better.
- Alan, Essex
Unbelievable.. have these people got nothing better to do than complain about a puppy being in a hat! I certainly wouldn't think this would be offensive to anyone, and quite frankly anyone that does feel that way should get a life. I'm anything but a racist, but things like this do make me feel that these few shopkeepers should accept that they live in Britain and accept our cultures to a certain degree.
- Annoyed Londoner, England
Would you please tell us how many complaints? - I know it may come as a surprise, but life does tend to include a few things that some people might find slightly offensive - and you know what we have to just deal with it.
The image was chosen for very positive reasons - isn't this good about having well trained police dogs.
I get offended by various advertising images; but so what. Is this a deliberately offensive image - no. Is it an obviously offensive image - no. Has it offended people by accident - yes. Should be people be a little less over sensitive - yes.
And yes, I do come from a non Christian cultural background.
- Jc, london se1
Apparently, some of my brothers and sisters have reached such a state of spiritual perfection (ihsan) that they have time to waste being foolish. While we consider the saliva of the dog to be ritually unclean, most scholars do not consider the dog as a whole to be unclean. Furthermore, we are allowed to keep dogs for hunting and and protection. Since the puppy is in training to be a police dog, a permitted use, there is no reason complain. In any case, we are NOT prohibited from looking at dogs or photos of them and perhaps reflecting on the diversity of Allah's creation. That being said, the police would have done better to find a less saccharine illustration for a card reminding people of the emergency number to seek police assistance.
- Abdelkarim Benoit Evans, Quebec, Canada
Give me a break!
This forced climate of political correctness and fear of offending any religious or ethnic minority to the point of restricting one’s own freedom of expression has got to stop!
Are the police now expected to discontinue their use of K-9 dogs to protect and serve the public for fear the presence of a “ritually unclean animal” might offend a criminal or some minority in the normal course of Rebel’s future patrols?
Rebel will ultimately be “willing” to give up its life to protect his partner in service to the public.
We have a saying in Florida, tell Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif “to go pound sand!”
Those who feel offended by Rebel “should get a life!”
- Urdaman, Orlando, FL Houston, TX
I take it that when these Muslims have their house burgled in the middle of the night and a good track is found , -- they will not want dogs like Rebel to track down the burglars so they can be arrested ?
- Nigel, France
