KNUTSFORD'S top cop this week called on Freemasons in the police to out themselves.
Chief Inspector Ray Wilson - backing national calls for a register of officers who are masons - said secrecy shrouding the organisation undermined people's perception of police who were members.
"I am not a Freemason and I don't intend to be one," he said.
"This is only a personal view, but I don't believe membership is compatible with being a police officer because it is all surrounded in secrecy." However, he said in a near 30-year career he'd never known an officer, who was a mason, to let a duty of loyalty to the group interfere with his job. But Mr Wilson, speaking to the Guardianabout the Association of Chief Police Officers' quest to tackle the issue of masonic membership in the force, said the secretive nature of the organisation did cast doubts in the public's mind.
At a recent conference, the chief constables' council called on the government to introduce a compulsory register for Freemasons in the force.
In the meantime, officers will be encouraged to consider whether membership is in the best interest of the service.
The recommendations are aimed at any organisation where there is a strong duty of loyalty to fellow members.
But Mr Wilson said it would be wrong to ban membership - provided officers stood up to be counted.
"We live in a democracy after all," he said.
The Commons home affairs select committee is also currently seeking evidence about whether police officers, prosecutors, judges and magistrates should be Freemasons.
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What do you think? Should people in prominent public positions - policemen, politicians, councillors, judges or magistrates - be Freemasons? Write to the Editor, Knutsford Guardian, The Council Offices, Toft Road, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 6TA.
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