The Royal Ulster Constabulary, like any institution made up of mortal men and women, is not perfect. But by any objective measure it is a highly professional and effective police force. Its members have shown the most remarkable courage and resilience in spite of 300 deaths and thousands of injuries. And it has striven to be a police force for all sections of the community in Northern Ireland with many officers and their families suffering intimidation and direct violence as a result. Certainly, the RUC has its mavericks and its bigots. But so has every police force, the Garda Siochana not excluded.
Thus, it is not difficult to understand the sense of outrage among unionists at reports of what the Patten commission on policing is going to propose. From their perspective - and from that of many moderate nationalists - the RUC represents the last line of defence against paramilitary gangsterism. Its members are their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, neighbours and fellow-worshippers. For the most part they are undoubtedly men and women with personal qualities of honesty, commitment and decency.
If the leaks on Patten are true - and they mirror information published in this newspaper last year - the RUC is to be effectively reconstituted as a new force, significantly reduced in size and administered through a new authority reflecting Northern Ireland's differing allegiances. Sworn officers will take a new oath. Symbols and badges will change. The full-time reserve will be demobilised. Early retirement will be made available for serving officers and there will a fixed quota of more than 40 per cent of Catholics in future strength. There will be localised input with "support services" contracted at local level.
The realpolitik is that when the Belfast Agreement was endorsed in May of last year by the electorate, north and south, a profound change was agreed for the nature of the political entity which is Northern Ireland. What will shortly happen to the RUC is the inevitable reflection of that change in the institution which, perhaps more than any other, expresses the nature of the State. A police force is the embodiment of the civil authority in its day-to-day relationship with its citizens. By definition, its composition, its accountability, its understanding of its own mission must reflect the political reality of the State. History abounds with examples; the replacement of the Royal Irish Constabulary with the unarmed Garda Siochana in 1922 being closest to home.
It remains to be seen how much the recent leaks will reflect the reality of Patten's report. But the commission's brief, set against the historical background of the RUC, predicated conclusions and recommendations which have to be broadly similar to what has been reported. The RUC's lineage is that of a predominantly Protestant and unionist force. Its title, its make-up, its symbols and rubrics, its historical ethos were built around and reflect the dominance of one tradition over another. If Northern Ireland is to have a democratic future it has to be based on structures and institutions which reflect both traditions and both political cultures. The Royal Ulster Constabulary, notwithstanding its many fine qualities, its operational record and the sincere efforts of many of its members, does not do so. Painful as it may be, policing in Northern Ireland has to be reborn and clothed anew.