Quote:
It's widely-attested (though I've never been to NI, so I'm not really talking from experience) that the local police force, formerly known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary or RUC, fell somewhat short of impartiality when it came to sectarian crime.

It's widely attested by republicans, certainly, which goes to prove that if you throw enough mud, some of it sticks. Certain individual officers during 30 years of watching their colleagues being murdered may have been less than perfect, but to imply that the RUC were institutionally sectarian is complete rubbish.

The stress on RUC officers and their families was appalling, they had to live with the constant threat of being murdered either on or off duty. I can clearly remember getting lifts to school from neighbours and having to stand round the corner while the car was checked for booby-trap bombs. These sorts of things went on daily and passed for 'normal', we just had to get on with it.

Quote:
The proportion of Protestants among RUC officers was much higher than would be representative of the population

Considering that Roman Catholic members of the RUC were actively intimidated and murdered by republicans, that's not so surprising really. When the RUC was formed, 3000 places out of about 9000 were allocated for Roman Catholic recruitment and many of these were filled by ex members of the RIC. You can't condemn the RUC for being composed largely of Protestants without considering the underlying reasons.

Quote:
Many but not all of Patten's recommendations were adopted, including a symbolic change of name from RUC to NIPF (Northern Ireland Police Force)

Actually, it's the Police Service of Northern Ireland, or PSNI.

Quote:
The NIPF are making a deliberate effort to recruit more from the Catholic community, with the long-term aim of balancing-out the numbers completely, to reflect the make-up of the wider community.

The recruitment policy is presently 50/50 (50% Roman Catholic, 50% Other) and if only 10 suitable Roman Catholic recruits apply, then only 10 other recruits (from all other religions or none) can be accepted along with them. This replaces one perceived form of discrimination with another, it is now incredibly difficult for Protestants to be accepted into the PSNI.

Quote:
But even now, many Catholics are wary, if not outright distrusting, of the police.

No doubt partly influenced by the implicit threat from republicans, perhaps this week's statement will go some way towards allowing this to change.
_________________________
Geoff
---- -------
Mk1 Blue - was 4GB, now 16GB
Mk2 Red - was 12GB, now 60GB