Critics unveil gimmicky exercise of police squad on 'burkha' duty

London: Three female police officers were ordered to dress up as Muslim women for the day just to see what it felt like.

They wore traditional burkhas as part of a scheme designed to help police interact better with the Islamic community.

Two covered their faces with hijab headscarves and niqab veils, leaving only narrow slits to see through, and another wore Muslim dress and a headscarf showing her face.

Critics on Monday lined up to denounce the scheme as "political correctness gone mad," and accused South Yorkshire Police of losing sight of its main objective.

Douglas Murray, of the Centre for Social Cohesion think-tank, said: "You just couldn't make it up."

"The victims of crime must be amazed that the police have so much time on their hands that they can spend a day playing dress-up," he said.

"This is a complete waste of police time and taxpayers' money. It's not the duty of police to empathise with particular sections of the community. It is the duty of the police to prevent crime and catch criminals.

"After this, are they planning to dress as members of other communities such as Hindus and Buddhists?"

Fiona McEvoy, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The police should be spending their time trying to catch criminals rather than indulging in gimmicky exercises. This is political correctness gone mad - it's ridiculous. These kind of schemes seem to yield few measurable benefits.

"Taxpayers would rather see the officers concentrating their efforts and resources on providing decent frontline policing, making the streets safer for every section of the community.

"The police are overstretched as it is without officers being paid to do other things than their real job."

The officers, Sergeant Deb Leonard, Sergeant Deb Pickering and Police Community Support Officer Helen Turner, all from Sheffield, were accompanied by four Muslim women to help them learn more about the Islamic faith on a tour of the city.

In return, the Muslim women were shown around South Yorkshire Police's custody suite and CCTV office and learned about the day-to-day duties of a police officer.