Northern Ireland: The Politics of Policing

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Northern Ireland The Politics of Policing
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Reading

• Tonge (2002) Northern Ireland conflict and
  change, ch. 7 (includes the recent reforms)
• Tonge (2005) The new Northern Irish Politics?
  Ch.10
• Mitchell and Wilford ch. 8 (by Weitzer)
• McGarry and OLeary (1999) Policing Northern
  Ireland
• Further references on the reading list available
  online

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Sovereignty, legitimacy and policing

• A state is a human community that (successfully)
  claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of
  physical force within a given territory
• The state is a political grouping that
  maintains the legitimate capacity to use force
• Max Weber

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• Security forces embody state sovereignty -
  claiming the exclusive right to the legitimate
  use of force
• The legitimacy of the state and of its security
  forces are inextricably linked

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The background

• 1969 the RUC discredited
• The Hunt Commission a failed attempt at reform
• The British army takes over
• 1976 onwards Police primacy restored
• Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Irish Regiment
• 1985 The RUC and the Anglo-Irish Agreement

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The Unionist case

• Republicans are to blame for abnormalities in
  policing
• Catholics wont join because of IRA intimidation
• The RUC did an excellent job

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RUC Orangeman Clay figure
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The nationalist case

• Recognised the increased professionalisation of
  the RUC but
• The RUC had a Unionist ethos
• There was a lack of confidence in the RUC among
  Catholics
• It is not solely due to intimidation that
  Catholics didnt join the RUC
• The militarisation of policing

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The republican case

• The RUC as combatants
• RUC 93 Protestant 100 Unionist
• Collusion

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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)

• Police reform an integral part of the Good Friday
  Agreement
• The Patten Commission
• Renaming the RUC as the PSNI
• Changing the symbols
• A new Policing Board

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• Reducing the size of the police service
• Human Rights oath replaces Loyalty oath
• Recruiting more Catholics
• District Policing Partnerships
• Will the reforms work ?

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PSNI Officer Hand-knitted in Ulster
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Policing reform essential for a resolution of the
conflict ?

• An acceptable force can maintain law and order
  more effectively
• A break with the past will free the Police of
  their reputation as a Unionist force
• Resolution of the problem of policing inseparable
  from agreed structures of government