The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, has said that the British government must address concerns about past RUC malpractices if it is serious about creating a new beginning to policing, writes Suzanne Breen.
He said it was vital that there should be independent judicial inquiries into the murders of solicitors Mr Pat Finucane and Ms Rosemary Nelson, the killing of Mr Robert Hamill, a Portadown Catholic, and other cases.
Mr Finucane was shot dead in his north Belfast home 11 years ago by the UDA. There have been persistent allegations of collusion by the security forces.
Ms Nelson was killed in a carbomb explosion in Lurgan last year. Mr Hamill died after being attacked by loyalists in Portadown three years ago. It was alleged that the incident was witnessed by RUC officers who did not intervene.
Mr Mallon said: "The reality is that those are the blots on the past . . . Now we are attempting to create a new future for policing, a new beginning, where we do not have any of that residue of the abuses of the past."