Police Force's "Operation Pagan" Draws Outcry

October 5, 2005

Source: The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/05/npagan05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/05/ixhome.html

On October 5, 2005 The Telegraph reported, "A police force has renamed its latest crime crackdown to avoid offending heathens. It had seemed a good idea for Kent police to name the six-week campaign Operation Pagan because it coincided with Hallowe'en. However, the force had not reckoned with the Pagan Federation, which said the name of the operation, to tackle vandalism and violence linked to longer autumn nights, was offensive. Brian Botham, a spokesman for the federation, said: 'They wouldn't have called it Operation Christian, Operation Jew or Operation Muslim. So why Operation Pagan?' A police spokesman said: 'We're sorry if the name caused distress.' The operation has been renamed Excalibur. 'We're waiting for some Arthurian society to complain that we're besmirching Camelot,' said one officer."