“Devon and Cornwall police slammed after creating sand sculpture of naked female murder victim
The officers’ entry into the contest on Perranporth Beach in Cornwall. featured a naked woman with large breasts face down with a spade in her back, surrounded by police tape (pictured).”
East Devon Watch 
You could argue – and I suppose that is what the Daily Mail is arguing – that police forces should be ultra-sensitive to everyone’s feelings and should make 100% certain that they never offend anyone. However, if anyone is going to be so constrained in what they say or do in order to be sure of never offending anyone, then we are never going to be able to say anything with any real meaning and will be limited to trite phrases like “Have a nice day” or similar.
For this reason I believe that we have to be very careful about criticising any freedoms of expression.
In this particular case, the Daily Mail article is the worst type of sensationalist journalism without any real merit.
1. This sand sculpture depicted a woman face down – in other words THERE WERE NO BREASTS – so to claim she had “big breasts” is just outright exaggeration.
2. IMO Tom and Jerry cartoons and most police dramas on TV contain far worse images of violence than this quite cartoonic sand sculpture – not to mention loads of other art creations which are far more questionable than this. As examples:
Dr. Hagens’ Body Worlds where real dead bodies are half dissected and then preserved in plastic
Several Damien Hurst pieces made from dead animals
Carl Michael von Hausswolff’s painting using stolen ashes of holocaust victims
The Prophet by Cedric Chambers
Andrea Hasler’s tent made from human flesh
The opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan
So let’s not get this sand sculpture out of perspective.
Instead, let’s praise D&CP for actually engaging with the public, being accessible and approachable and being seen to be “of the people” rather than aloof and oppressive and official.
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