The group, spearheaded by Strathclyde Police, would aim to encourage more Muslims to join the force, to improve understanding of the faith and to tackle Islamophobia.

It is hoped the organisation would encourage Muslims to stay in the police force once they have joined.

Pc Amar Shakoor, who was Scotland's first Muslim police officer, is supporting the scheme.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: "What we want to do is put Islam in a positive light and tackle some of the Islamophobia. At the moment in the last few years there has been some negativity about Islam affecting the Muslim communities.

"We want to highlight some of the positive things Islam can provide to the communities and not just the police services."

Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Steve House is also backing the plan. He hopes the group could persuade more Muslims to view the police force as a career option.

There are reportedly around 31 Muslim officers in Strathclyde force, which has about 7,400 officers.

Chief Constable House told the BBC: "The formation of the Muslim Police Association is a positive step. These are officers who are positive about seeing the police force as a career and want to use their association to reach out to Muslims.

"They are not saying 'don't join the police, it's a bad career move', they are saying look, come and join, we're happy with our career choice, come and join."



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