This article on the telegraph website leads with the following strapline …
Muslims, Jewish and Hindu crime victims could be given the right to request a police officer of their own religion under a scheme being trialled in the Sikh community.
Ridiculous? That’s the easy reaction to make to this. How about this? …
Black people and homosexuals may also be entitled to ask for an officer of the same ethnicity or sexuality.
Again that seems ridiculous, and like it will cause more problems that it would solve.
However there’s little point even thinking about it if the only action is to say “that’s political correctness gone mad”, and then rant a bit, so let’s try to look a little deeper.
The Minority View
From the telegraph article …
Palbinder Singh, chairman of the MPSA, said Sikh crime victims have been neglected in the past and their cases ignored because white police officers do not understand the “peculiarities” of Punjabi culture.
“Anglo Saxon culture does not involve honour killings or forced marriage, which is to its credit,” he said.
“But there are these peculiarities of Sikh and Punjabi culture that Anglo Saxon police officers just can’t get to grips with.
“These are real issues but they are being ignored, which is why we are providing Sikh police officers to help make sure these criminals are not allowed to slip through the net.”
I find it quite easy to understand that it would be helpful to victims of crime to have someone who knows about the situation to deal with it, and perhaps more importantly, empathise.
Political Correctness Gone Mad
But however great that might sound, perhaps the police (whoever they might happen to be) should be trained to deal with every situation no matter what it might be.
What about the problems that might cause in the future, having to have specific types of police to deal with specific minorities.
And would there ever be such a thing as Christian police officers to deal with Christian crimes? (e.g. tithing under 10%, not having a quiet time). *
How about another quote from the Talagraph article to put it another way …
Peter Smythe, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, called the scheme “stupid” and said it would harm an already overstretched force.
He said: “What are we going to do when we can’t deliver it? What if we haven’t got a Sikh officer available? I just think it’s political correctness gone mad. The whole thing is nonsense.
“Maybe if someone burned somebody’s turban I wouldn’t be against getting a Sikh police officer to deal with it, but otherwise no.
Eloquantly put.
Whichever way you see it it’s an interesting topic. I can certainly see the need for police officers to be more understanding in all situations. The question is what’s the best way to go about it?
* I’m joking here
