Eight police officers serving with Strathclyde Police force have listed their official religion as Jedi in an internal survey used to monitor diversity, it has emerged.

The fictional religion was created by science fiction filmmaker George Lucas for his 1977 film Star Wars and its subsequent sequels, prequels and many varied, cross-platform spin offs.

In the films, Jedi is an ancient religion of declining popularity, whose adherents believe in a supernatural Force which binds all living things together. The Jedi are a peacekeeping order who use the “Light Side” of the force and reject the “Dark Side” and its practitioners, including Darth Vader and the Sith Lords.

Strathclyde Police are Scotland’s largest police force, covering the city of Glasgow and the surrounding area, and have around 8,200 currently serving officers. Two of the force’s 2,800 civilian staff also recorded their religion as Jedi on the diversity monitoring forms.

The results of the voluntary diversity survey were obtained by Jane’s Police Review, an independent professional magazine run by the London-based defence publisher Jane’s Information Group, through a Freedom of Information request.

Strathclyde were the only UK police force to admit to having Jedi officers among their ranks.

A spokeswoman from the force told The Journal: “Strathclyde Police monitors equality and diversity across the six strands of diversity which are age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief and sexual orientation, to ensure that employment practices are fair, non-discriminatory and which support equality of opportunity.

“Officers and members of police staff provide this information voluntarily,” she added.

Following an email campaign, some 390,000 people in England and Wales and 14,000 people in Scotland recorded Jedi as their religion on the 2001 census. While the numbers were significant enough for the answer to be given its own processing code, the claim in the widely-circulated email that if just 10,000 people declared themselves Jedi it would become a “fully recognised and legal religion” proved to be fallacious.

Strathclyde Police refused to comment as to whether the officers and staff in question were taking the diversity questionnaire seriously and were infqct genuinely followers of the Jedi religion.

Clare Stewart, a member of staff at the Forbidden Planet store in Edinburgh, told The Journal: “I know some people who really do follow it, so if they’re serious then I guess they’re entitled to their beliefs like anyone else.

“If it’s just for a laugh then that’s a bit immature. But I suppose even the police are allowed to have a sense of humour.”