Continuing his campaign to get more Jewish bobbies on the beat in Manchester, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Peter Fahy has declared that observant Jews could fulfil a police career.
After addressing Sunday’s Manchester Jewish Representative Council AGM, the chief constable said religious observance was no more an operational constraint than childcare.
Although conceding that “Sabbath observance could be more difficult”, he added: “We are able to be flexible and it is something we can work around with individual negotiation.”
Mr Fahy urged Jewish community members to emulate other ethnic minorities by becoming officers and special constables. The sentiment is shared by Miranda Nathans of the Manchester Jewish Police Association, whose husband was a constable for 23 years.
“The police force has largish Asian, Afro-Caribbean and other minorities and we as a minority are not fulfilling our public duty,” Mrs Nathans said. But those recruiting would need to understand religious sensitivities: “Orthodox people aren’t going to go for it unless they see it as feasible.”
