N. Ireland Police Changes Proposed

The British government published a long-awaited plan Friday for overhauling Northern Ireland’s police department by opening the door for more Catholic officers, renaming the agency, reducing its size and even introducing a new badge and unit flag.

But the proposed changes to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the agency that polices the restive province, failed to win the approval of Northern Ireland’s hard-line Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. One Catholic organization charged that the plan fell short, while a Protestant group argued that it went too far.

Their criticism undercut an appeal by Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, John Reid, for the province’s parties to back the reforms, which he said present “unprecedented opportunities” for improving the police force in Northern Ireland.

Ronnie Flanagan, the force’s chief constable, echoed Reid’s appeal.

“Fully effective policing is all about partnerships between police and those whom the police exist to serve,” he said. “If the plan receives widespread cross-community support, I have no doubt it will be a blueprint for effective policing.”

Reid gave the province’s political parties until Tuesday to say whether they will participate in a new 19-member civilian policing board. Creation of the board is expected to usher in a new era of policing in Northern Ireland, where Catholics make up less than 10% of the predominantly Protestant force.

The board, which would include Catholic and Protestant members, is expected to be granted broad powers to appoint key police officials as well as monitor the force’s performance. Another plan provision, which would require legislative approval, would make it easier for the board to investigate allegations of police misconduct.

The reforms call for the current full-time force of 9,700 regular and reserve officers to be trimmed to 7,500 regular officers. The full-time reservists would be phased out.

At the same time, the plan seeks to bolster the approximately 1,000-member part-time reserve to 2,500 officers. This would pave the way for more Catholics to join the force.

A recruitment effort launched last spring attracted more than 7,500 applicants, of whom 33% were Catholic. Under the plan, an equal number of Catholic and Protestant recruits will begin training in October and the force will take on the more neutral title of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Other changes include the closure of the last remaining anti-terrorism interrogation center and a reduction of the size and influence of the so-called Special Branch, a secretive intelligence unit.

Reforming the Royal Ulster Constabulary is viewed as key to winning Catholic backing for a larger effort to rescue the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, which is under threat of collapse. The accord seeks to end decades of conflict between Roman Catholics who seek to unite the province with Ireland and Protestants who want to remain a part of Britain.

Full implementation of the peace accord has been hampered by issues ranging from the Irish Republican Army’s refusal to give up its weapons to the timing and depth of police reforms.

David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, the province’s largest Protestant group, resigned in protest last month as first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly over the IRA weapons issue.

In a so-far unsuccessful bid to entice the outlawed paramilitary group to disarm, the British and Irish governments this month floated a package of reforms sought by Catholics, including changes to the police force.

Even before the police proposal made its public debut, however, Mitchel McLaughlin, chairman of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein, charged that the 70-page blueprint left key issues unresolved.

Ian Paisley Jr. of the Democratic Unionist Party, a hard-line Protestant group, described the plan as a “decimation” of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and said it would fail to “buy off” republicans.

The province’s more moderate political groups, including the Ulster Unionist Party and its Catholic counterpart, the Social Democratic and Labor Party, each vowed to study the document. Backing of the plan by the SDLP is viewed as crucial because of the party’s influence over young Catholics, whose participation in the new force is seen as key to its success.