Strathclyde Police Friday welcomed the creation of Scotland's first Muslim Police Association, which is aimed to tackle the rise of Islamophobia. "The formation of the Muslim Police Association is a positive step," said the chief constable of Scotland's biggest police force, Steve House. "These are officers who are positive about seeing the police force as a career and want to use their association to reach out to Muslims," House said. The formation follows the creation of a Muslim Police Association in England, which has been reported to quite successful, not only within the Muslim community, but also with tackling institutional Islamophobia within their own police forces. The formation of the association in Scotland comes despite their only being around 31 Muslim officers in Strathclyde's 7,000 strong force, which is based around Glasgow, and some 30,000 Muslims living in the region that make up a mere 1.5 per cent of the population.
Police constable Amar Shakoor, Scotland's first Muslim officer, said there had been recent negativity directed towards the Muslim community, which is being treated with suspicion and increased scrutiny. The association wanted "to highlight some of the positive things Islam can provide to the communities and not just the police services," Shakoor was quoted saying by the BBC. He also suggested it would help to recruit more Muslim officers.