The new Police Service of Northern Ireland was conceived four years ago in the Belfast Agreement. It is born today with the graduation of 40 young men and women from training as its first new-intake members.
Meanwhile, the selection process is under way for a new Chief Constable to succeed Sir Ronnie Flanagan who retired last week.
Conditions are not wholly propitious for the immediate success of the new service. The St Patrick's Day break-in at Castlereagh and the carrying away of classified papers, must bestir old mistrusts and raise far-reaching questions. At best, there has been a serious lapse in security. At worst there may have been internal collusion. Sir John Chilcott's inquiry will be crucial in restoring confidence.
Nor is the atmosphere enhanced for the new recruits by the video evidence of PSNI officers vigorously applying their batons on Easter Monday. Outside observers should not be too prissy about such incidents. But they provide propaganda to those who wish to subvert the new service. And they make it difficult - to say the least - for community leaders to start building bridges between police and people.
More fundamental items of unfinished business also remain on the landscape in which the new police service seeks to establish itself. The RUC'S handling of the Finucane, Nelson and Hamill deaths remains a running sore for many in the republican and nationalist communities. The full circumstances surrounding the Omagh bombing and the subsequent investigation are still unclear, notwithstanding the report of the Ombudsman, Mrs O'Loan and the various statements from Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
Nonetheless there is the unmistakable sense of a new beginning. Some politicians have been hesitant about committing their support to the new service. But the wider community has spoken with its feet. More than 8,000 young men and women applied for the first 300 posts. Of these more than 40 per cent were from the Catholic community.
Two key elements remain to be put in place. The Policing Board will be incomplete until Sinn Féin takes its two places. That will happen, in time. The other essential is leadership. It goes without saying that the new Chief Constable will need qualities of courage, impartiality and honesty. He (or she) will also have to demonstrate very special skills in blending the old and the new. Strong effective policing will have to be delivered in an environment of full accountability to the community. An exceptional individual is required.