"DEVONWALL POLICE" - COMMITTED TO CORNISH LANGUAGE & CORNWALL?

by CelticNews | April 30, 2008 at 03:01 am | 32 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION

The Celtic League has focused its campaign for more Celtic cultural
and linguistic commitment from the police services which serve the
Celtic countries onto the force which serves Cornwall - The Devon
and Cornwall Constabulary.

So far the Leagues approaches to police forces in Scotland, Wales
and Mann have met with a generally positive response and this is reflected
in some of the comments made by League General secretary, Rhisiart
Tal-e-bot, to Devon and Cornwalls Chief Constable, Stephen Otter.

The force serving Cornwall is unique in terms of policing in the Celtic
countries in that it has a operational area that transcends a National
boundary. Sometimes referred to disparagingly as the "Devonwall Police"
by some nationalists it remains to be seen if its trans-border structure
effects its ability to identify with the Celtic component of the
community it serves.

The General Secretary's query to Chief Constable Otter is set out
below:

"Dear Chief Constable Stephen Otter

Devon and Cornwall Police Constabulary: Cornish language and cultural
commitment

The Celtic League is currently pursuing a campaign to examine how
the police forces in the Celtic countries reflect the respective distinctive
cultural and linguistic heritage in each nation.

So far we have written to all the forces in Cymru/Wales, Mannin/Isle
of Mann and Alba/Scotland asking them about particular aspects of
their forces, especially their public image. We are generally interested
to know how they believe their forces reflect the distinct cultural
and linguistic heritage of the Celtic nation in which they work and
if they would consider strengthening their public image in this respect.

We believe this campaign is important, because the police form part
of the community it serves and as such should reflect the cultural
and linguistic heritage of that local and wider community.

The League is therefore writing to you to ask how, in your opinion,
your constabulary reflects the Cornish Celtic heritage and the Cornish
language and what commitments you hold with regard to Cornish identity
per se.

We would like to ask you to consider therefore the following questions:

1) Why can't I read your official website in the Cornish language?

2) Why don't your police uniforms and equipment (e.g. vehicles) have
the words 'police' written on them in the Cornish language alongside
English?
3) Would you consider adopting a distinct Cornish police badge, with
the Cornish flag on it perhaps, as in the case of the new North Wales
police badges?
4) Are your officers able to attend free classes in the Cornish language
as part of their job, should they wish to do so?
5) Do you have a specific Cornish language policy for your force?

6) How could, in your opinion, the Devon and Cornwall Police force
show more of a commitment to Cornish cultural and linguistic identity?

We have received very positive responses from all the police constabularies
that we have written to with some constabularies promising to subsequently
discuss some of issues raised at the next appropriate meeting. The
Isle of Man Constabulary for instance have recently responded by saying
that, further to our correspondence with them, they have decided to
adopt a Manx Gaelic phrase to be put onto all of its marked vehicles
by the end of this summer. In consideration that only approximately
1% of the Manx population speak Gaelic (which is about the same as
speakers of Cornish), is this an option that you would perhaps consider
for your force in Cornwall?

We would also very much appreciate answers to the above questions
and will look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot
General Secretary"

Related articles on Celtic News at:

J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League

29/04/08

The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

TEL (UK)01624 877918 MOBILE (UK)07624 491609

Internet site at:

http://celticleague.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/

Uploaded by CelticNews | April 30, 2008 at 03:01 am | 32 views | add comment