Police Officers have been banned from asking for a person’s ‘Christian’ names for fear of offending people with other religious beliefs.
Police Officers taking down a suspect's particulars must now refer to their ‘personal’ or ‘family name’ as the word ‘Christian’ could offend Muslims, Sikhs and other faiths, according to new diversity guidelines.
Kent Police’s prescriptive diversity rulebook also tells Officers to refrain from using phrases such as ‘my dear’ or ‘love’, when addressing women for fear it may cause ‘embarrassment or offence’.
The 62-page guidelines ‘Faith and Culture Resource’, produced by the force's diversity support group, warn that even well-meaning gestures like handshakes or putting a comforting arm around a victim or grieving family member are also prohibited as it could be deemed ‘unprofessional’. They also state that the term ‘mixed race’ should be replaced by ‘mixed parentage’ or ‘mixed cultural heritage’.
The guidelines set out customs and practices in a number of religions and beliefs including paganism and Rastafarianism.
In it, Officers are told to offer to remove their shoes on entering people’s homes as some religions frown upon shoes being worn inside the home.
A veteran Kent Police Officer of 15 years said:
‘Most of us are fully aware of how to treat people from different cultural backgrounds, but being told we can't even ask what their ‘Christian’ name is just plain ridiculous. That is what we are brought up with – Christian name and surname – and to be honest if you had an officer ask for your personal name and family name it's just going to confuse people.
‘It's just the latest in a long line of annoying PC-related nonsense that we keep getting shoved down our throats.’
Marie Clair, spokesman for the Plain English Campaign, said:
‘I would like to know who these people with religious beliefs are that are allegedly so offended. I do not understand why someone in an office somewhere is coming up with these guidelines when there has been no outcry or complaints made public to suggest that the word ‘Christian’ is offensive in this context.
‘It is political correctness being pushed to its absolute limits. All common sense has been lost. Why can’t we use familiar language which people understand?’
Last year officers in Warwickshire were told not to say ‘Evenin’ all’ – a phrase made famous by classic police drama Dixon of Dock Green – because times of day could meant different things to various cultures.