The Alliance Party has welcomed the Patten report's proposal to change the name of the RUC, while criticising the document for failing to fully recognise the sacrifice of police officers killed and injured during the Troubles.
The party's leader, Mr Sean Neeson, yesterday endorsed most of the recommendations in the report on the future of policing in the North, but with reservations.
The party is opposed to proposals to make half of all police recruits Catholic on the grounds that such quotas are illegal under both domestic and European law, and are unnecessary.
Mr Neeson said a strong recruitment programme in the context of the report would be fairer in balancing the currently 92 per cent Protestant force.
Mr Neeson was speaking at the publication of his party's formal submission to the British government on the Patten report. The submission endorsed the proposed change of the force's name from the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the Northern Ireland Police Service.
Mr Neeson said this title provided "the best basis of getting support right across the community in Northern Ireland and also brings us into the new millennium with a new image for the police."
He added, however, that the report did not fully recognise the sacrifice made by RUC officers.