Part II - Policing Reform

Part II - Policing Reform

The Patten Commission was empowered by the Good Friday Agreement to recommend reforms of the sectarian police force in the n north - The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The British government implemented only part of the Patten Commission's recommendations.

Key recommendations not implemented include: redistributing control from Britain and the Chief Constable to local officials; adequate local powers to investigate and oversee police performance; reigning in the largely independent Special Branch as a secret force within a force; and police oaths to respect human rights.

Members of the RUC responsible for serious crimes against citizens and murder have shifted wholesale into positions of authority in the PSNI without a vetting process. This is unacceptable.

The newly named Police Service Northern Ireland has also been the center of complaints by the Nationalist community since its inception.

[Click for further info: 1) RUC/PSNI Abuses at Holy Cross Elementary Girls School; 2) The Siege of the Short Strand; 3) Chronology of RUC Abuses 2002; 4) Chronology of PSNI Abuses 2003; and, 5) Chronology of PSNI Abuses 2004]