Jedi Cops in Scotland

Scottish Sith Lords beware! The town of Strathclyde has Jedi cops on the beat. A Freedom of Information request has revealed that eight officers and two civilian staff members of the Scottish town's police force listed their religion as "Jedi" on voluntary diversity forms.

Jane's Police Review asked 55 forces across the UK how many employees had officially declared their religion as Jedi.

It said Strathclyde Police was the only force to confirm that some of its staff had entered "Jedi".

During the last British census a number of Star Wars fans across the country listed their religion as "Jedi," the spiritual system practiced by Luke Skywalker in George Lucas' popular film series. The fictional system is based on working with "The Force," a field of energy that connects all living things together. Jedi Knights use The Force to help others, while their enemies, the Sith Lords, use its "dark side" to increase their personal power.

Jane's Police Review editor Chris Herbert, who requested the information, said: "The Force appears to be strong in Strathclyde Police with their Jedi police officers and staff.

"Far from living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, some members of the noble Jedi order have now chosen Glasgow and its surrounding streets as their home."

George Lucas used Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces as a blueprint for shaping the events of the original Star Wars films, and as a result the Jedi religion does have a number of elements in common with real spiritual systems. In the films Jedi Knights cultivate emotional detachment and a sense of connectedness with the universe through the medium of The Force and avoid giving in to negative emotions such as fear and anger, as they are said to lead to the dark side. Through their practices The Force also bestows upon them various paranormal psychic abilities such as telekinesis.

Now I wonder if any of those Jedi cops can levitate a gun out of the hand of a perpetrator...