AP, Aug. 14, 2002
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap08-14-073417.asp?reg=EUROPE
LONDON, Aug. 14 — London police officers will have to wear the Christian cross on their uniforms even if it they object on religious grounds, the force said Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Police said the decision had been made ”following informal consultation” with the force’s governing body and the officers’ union.
The badge of the London force includes a symbol of royal authority — St. Edward’s Crown, which has a cross on top. A Muslim traffic warden complained about having to wear the symbol and took the police to an employment tribunal last year, claiming religious discrimination. He later dropped the case.
After a story about the insignia appeared in a Sunday newspaper, the Metropolitan Police said on Monday that it had agreed to offer alternative insignia. But many officers opposed the change.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman said the cross-free insignia had simply been a proposal, and that Commissioner Sir John Stevens, head of the Metropolitan Police, had decided against it.