By Steven Bell

A PUPPY postcard advertising Tayside Police’s new non-emergency telephone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.

The choice of image on the card —a black dog sitting in a police officer’s hat—has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

It is understood that Muslims have been upset by it because dogs are considered ritually unclean. Some shopkeepers have been refusing to display the advert.

Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said last night, “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 yesterday. The chief constable said he was unaware of the concerns, that the force had not sought to cause any upset and that he would look into it.

Councillor Asif indicated last night that he was “quite happy” with the explanation given, and stated that he had brought the matter to the board to reflect complaints he had received.

“People who have shops just won’t put up the postcard,” he continued. “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.

German shepherd Rebel has generally proved a popular recruit for the force, with huge numbers of people reading his on-line training diary.

A police spokesman said last night, “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.”