Conclusions
28. Although the position of officers from ethnic
minorities was part of the original focus of the inquiry, the
proportion of the population which is of a particular ethnic minority
is small. The under-representation of women and Roman Catholics
in the RUC is more striking.
29. The problem of the religious imbalance is the
most significant in political terms. This is not a new problem:
in 1922, following partition of Ireland, the RUC was intended
to include one third of its members from the Roman Catholic community,
drawn mainly from the Royal Irish Constabulary (which had a high
proportion of Roman Catholics in its ranks). That intention has
never been fulfilled: the proportion of Roman Catholics in the
RUC declined from a high point of 21.1 per cent in 1923.[31]
This has resulted in a situation where normal policing difficulties
have been exacerbated by a deep, long-held suspicion of the RUC
among many Roman Catholics.
30. These circumstances make it very easy for the
RUC to be accused of bias and frequently hard for it to defend
itself — whatever the merits of any particular case. The
Police Authority for Northern Ireland commissioned a Community
Attitude Survey in February 1997 which targeted every household
in Northern Ireland, as well as interested groups, and invited
replies on specific issues.[32]
The survey showed that the attitudes of the Roman Catholic and
Protestant communities were sharply divided. For example, 72 per
cent of Protestants thought that the RUC was doing a fairly good
or very good job in their area compared to 44 per cent of Roman
Catholics who were of a similar opinion.[33]
Protestants tended to rate the performance of the RUC as being
better in Northern Ireland as a whole than it was in their local
area. The reverse applied to Roman Catholics.[34]
Protestants were more likely to believe that their local police
treated Protestant and Roman Catholic members of the public equally
(82 per cent compared to 44 per cent). Views on other topics (confidence
in the RUC; support for change in the police etc.) showed a similar
separation.[35]
31. The long standing shortage of Roman Catholic
officers in the RUC can only make the task of building understanding
with the communities which it polices much harder and encourage
a "them and us" mind set to develop both outside and
within the force. The result is a deep divide between the police
in Northern Ireland and many of those whom the police are there
to serve. The need to address this problem is urgent and doing
so will be one of the most complex and important tasks facing
the Government in the coming years. As the RUC's figures show,
without some radical change in the force it will take a generation
to redress the religious imbalance.
32. The position of women in the RUC is less central
to the political debate about the future governance of Northern
Ireland, but it is important nevertheless. We are less sanguine
than the Chief Constable about the probability of the situation
of women officers improving reasonably rapidly.[36]
We accept his personal commitment to equality of opportunity and
that he is sincere in his determination to increase the number
of women in the force and in particular in the higher ranks. However,
it will take a generation of closely focused effort to recruit
enough women into the force to reflect the gender composition
of society adequately.
33. The changes that will result from a radical improvement
in the representative nature of the RUC will create understandable
tensions in the force. We sympathise with those officers who regard
any such moves as a threat to their jobs or the reputation of
their service. The Government and the senior officers of the RUC
will need to show considerable leadership if they are to encourage
the force to accept that the time has arrived for this problem
to be dealt with and that the means to do so will involve speedy
change. A basic aim of policy should be further to identify
and to remove disincentives for Roman Catholics to join the RUC.
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