Royal Ulster Constabulary

Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). This replaced the Royal Irish Constabulary, upon which it was modelled, in 1922 and policed Northern Ireland until 2001, when it was succeeded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). In 1927 49 per cent of RUC men were former members of the Ulster Special Constabulary, while 40 per cent had previously served in the Royal Irish Constabulary. It was originally intended that a third of the RUC should be Catholics, but the Catholic element in the force quickly declined from a peak of 21 per cent in 1923 to 17 per cent in 1927. By 1970 about 10 per cent of the RUC were Catholics. The force was therefore generally regarded by Catholics as a Protestant constabulary serving unionist interests.

Severely criticized for its policing of civil rights marches in 1968–9, the RUC was reformed by the 1970 Police Act. This aimed to eliminate the force's paramilitary trappings and to bring it more into line with other United Kingdom police forces. The act even provided for the disarming of the RUC, but the rise of the provisional IRA prevented this and during the 1970s the RUC became the most heavily armed and armoured police force in the United Kingdom.

Under the policy termed ‘Ulsterization’, pursued by successive governments from the late 1970s, the RUC took increased responsibility from the army for the policing of the Northern Ireland conflict. The strength of the force was trebled, but its casualty rate also increased dramatically.

The RUC was censured for its mistreatment of IRA suspects during interrogation in the mid‐1970s and for its apparent adoption of a ‘shoot‐to‐kill’ policy in the early 1980s. Up to the mid‐1980s Protestants strongly supported the force, while Catholic opinion remained much more divided. A poll taken early in 1985 showed that 96 per cent of Protestants thought the RUC was fair or very fair in its actions, but 53 per cent of Catholics thought the force was unfair or very unfair.

In the late 1980s the RUC was praised for its even‐handed policing of Orange marches and unionist demonstrations, particularly in the wake of the Anglo‐Irish agreement. This was accompanied, however, by a marked deterioration in relations with sections of the Protestant community. Similarly, policing of the controversial Drumcree Orange parades in Portadown from the late 1990s brought the RUC into violent conflict, not only with Catholic protestors, but also with Protestant marchers.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (see peace process) a commission chaired by Chris Patten, a former leading Conservative politician who had served as a minister in Northern Ireland during the 1980s, was established to formulate proposals for a reformed police force. His report, published in late 1999, recommended sweeping changes, which were largely, though not wholly, implemented by the Police (Northern Ireland) Act, 2000.

The RUC was awarded the George Medal, the UK's highest medal for civilian bravery, but shortly thereafter, in 2001, it was incorporated into the new PSNI. Under the Patten proposals, the PSNI was to be more representative than the RUC, especially by selecting half of its recruits from the Catholic community; it was to be less military in character; its new badges and symbols were to be free of any association with either the UK or the Irish Republic; it was to be regulated by a new police board; and complaints against it were to be handled by an independent police ombudsman. Sinn Féin initially refused to endorse the PSNI when not all Patten's recommendations were implemented, but it reversed this stance as part of the St Andrew's Agreement of 2006 and accepted the PSNI in early 2007.

However, investigations continued into claims of collusion during the Troubles between the RUC and loyalist paramilitary organizations. In 2003 Sir John Stevens, in his third report, concluded that collusion had occurred, while in 2007 the Northern Ireland police ombudsman identified collusion between the RUC's Special Branch and loyalists in a number of murders that took place in Belfast in 1989–2002. Controversy surrounding some of the tactics employed by the RUC during the Troubles seems set to continue, despite the force's incorporation into the PSNI.

Bibliography

A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland. The Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland (1999)
Brewer, J., et al. , The Police, Public Order and the State (1988)
McGarry, J., and and O'Leary, B. , Policing Northern Ireland: Proposals for a New Start (1999)
Ryder, C. , The RUC: A Force under Fire (1997)
Weitzer, R. , Policing under Fire (1995)

Elizabeth Malcolm