And Now: The Dreaded Cute Puppy Dog of Blasphemy

Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 8:45:54 am PST

Now causing seething in British Islamic communities: Trainee police puppy Rebel.

The British police should have known better than to take such an obviously blasphemous photograph, sure to offend and enrage members of the Religion of Peace™. What were they thinking?

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.