RUC facing radical reform

In this story: Side arms reissued Patten report 'Highest quality policing' George Cross for valour RELATED SITES

By Cnn.com writer, Michael Harrison

Of the contentious decisions taken in the bid to build a modern Northern Ireland acceptable to all who live in it, none has caused such controversy as the proposed reforms to the 78-year-old Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Since 1969, when violence escalated in the province, 302 RUC officers have been murdered and almost 9,000 injured in attacks. In 1983, Interpol figures showed that Northern Ireland was the most dangerous place in the world to be a policeman, the risk factor being twice as high as in El Salvador, the second most dangerous.

Founded in 1922 to replace the Royal Irish Constabulary, the RUC is unique among UK police forces in that it is required to enforce the law as well as counter terrorist activities.

The original intention of the founding Committee on Police Reorganisation called for the new 3,000-strong armed force to be one-third Catholic.

However, the proportion has never exceeded 20 percent, has more commonly stood in recent years at about 10 percent and is currently just over eight per-cent.

In 1969, in response to increasing tension and violence in the province, Lord Hunt, leader of the 1953 Everest exhibition, was asked to assess and advise on policing.

His report recommended a complete reorganisation of the RUC including disarming its officers and creating a police authority representative of the whole community. However, by 1972 attacks against the police had become so regular that side arms were reissued.

The same year -- two years after the army was called in to Northern Ireland in response to the rapidly deteriorating public order situation -- a report by Lord Scarman found that the Catholic community had no trust in the RUC which they regarded as the "strong arm of Protestant ascendancy," although the report rejected claims it was a "partisan force co-operating with sectarian mobs."

Further controversy resulted from an Amnesty report around the same time which alleged mistreatment of terrorist suspects. In the 1980s the force was at the centre of allegations that it was operating a "shoot to kill" policy after six terrorist suspects, five unarmed, were shot dead in three separate incidents. Four officers involved in the deaths of republican suspects were later acquitted.

The provisions of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 called for a new civilian police service, shorn of its anti-terrorist role and designed to reflect the demographic balance in Northern Ireland.

The resulting Independent Commission on Policing, chaired by Chris Patten, the former Conservative Party chairman and the last governor of Hong Kong, made 175 recommendations.

The Patten report critisised the militaristic organisation of the RUC

The main reforms were: the RUC to be renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland; new recruits to be drawn from a 50-50 pool of Protestants and Catholics; the force to be reduced from 13,500 to about 7,500; the force's crown and harp cap badge to be scrapped; all RUC officers to receive human rights training and accept a new police oath; a new policing board to replace the existing police authority.

The Patten commission also criticised the RUC, describing it as militaristic and hierarchical compared to other police forces. It said that because of the security threat -- and in order to protect itself from attack -- it had resorted to methods of policing that separated its officers from the community. The report said: "Policing cannot be fully effective when the police have to operate from fortified stations in armoured vehicles, and when police officers dare not tell their children what they do for a living for fear of attack from extremists from both sides."

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson's strategy in adopting almost all the commission's recommendations enraged unionists, who saw the proposals as the latest in a long line of concessions towards the nationalists. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said: "Nothing that this government says or does can dishonour the RUC or the men that serve in it. But the government can and is dishonouring itself." Ken Maginnis, the party's security spokesman, said the reforms "degraded, demeaned and denigrated the RUC."

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the RUC chief constable, said his force stood ready to endure the pain of losing its name and badge if it were to prove that those moves would boost Catholic representation. But he remained to be convinced that would be the outcome.

"We will pursue transition with dignity. We will be hurt but we will do our best to continue to provide the highest quality policing service to all members of the public in Northern Ireland," Sir Ronnie said.

Mandelson said the changes were essential to ensure the RUC was acceptable to both communities in the Province and to end its long-standing focus as a "fulcrum for antagonistic debate". With only eight percent of its officers Catholic, he said it had "inevitably, if unfairly" become associated in the Nationalist community with Unionism and the British state." Although he realised the "hurt" involved in changing the name, it was essential. He said: "The service will never be acceptable unless that change is made -- and changed it must be."

As it resigned itself to reform, the RUC was awarded the George Cross for valour. For many in the province, the honour -- which has been given on 16 previous occasions to individual officers -- smacked of political expediency, coming as it did so soon after the controversial Patten report.

In front of more than 1,500 serving and former officers gathered at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, the Queen conferred the honour which had only once before been conferred collectively -- to the islanders of Malta in 1942 while they were under German air bombardments.

The Queen said: "Due in no small measure to the bravery and dedication over the years of the men and women of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland is now a much more peaceful and stable place in which to live. I hope and trust that the enmities of the past can be laid to rest in a way that fully recognises the sacrifices made."

Referring to the changes, she added: "I am confident that you will maintain that sense of duty and dedication which is being honoured today. I know that you will have my support and prayers in the future as the dogged and relentless search for lasting peace continues."

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