Thursday, October 05, 2006

You cannot run a police force like this

I don't know who was responsible for the decision to allow a Muslim police officer to refuse to guard the Israeli embassy in London but you cannot run a police force like this. As I see it the officer is refusing to carry out the duties which he is being paid to do. I understand that he feels that was put in a moral dilemma but if we allow this to slide then where will this leave the police force? It will leave forces up and down the country in a position where they cannot rely on officers to do many types of duties because those officers may object to those duties on moral or other grounds. In other words officers can pick and choose the duties they are assigned to! I wonder what happens when the police are for sale and the officer decides he or she has a moral objection to the corporate sponsor and wearing the logo on his or her uniform.

1 comment:

MsDemmie said...

This is very similar to the row rumbling in the Fire Service about four firefighters refusing to attend and hand out leaflets at a Gay Pride March/Event in Glasgow on religious grounds.

Andy's blog at Spicy Cauldron has a long article and discussion about it which can be found by searching the LGBT section.