RUC name change 'first suggested 35 years ago'

A committee on police reform in Northern Ireland was urged 35 years ago by some officers to change the name of the force in a bid to attract more Catholic support, it was claimed today.

During evidence to a committee on police reform in Northern Ireland in 1969, some officers suggested the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s name should be changed to the Northern Ireland Constabulary in a bid to persuade more Catholics to join the overwhelmingly Protestant force.

In his new book The Fateful Split – Catholics and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, freelance journalist Chris Ryder has released evidence to the Hunt Committee in 1969 which showed that: "Cardinal Conway, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, wanted the name of the Force to change but recognised that the choice of a replacement would be difficult.

“Some officers, also in favour, suggested the Northern Ireland Constabulary. A district inspector in Armagh said: 'The Royal is anathema to many Catholics who, as a whole, still have a great respect for the RUC but don’t like to reveal it’.

“While some were not opposed to changing the uniform colour to British police blue, possibly to distinguish themselves from the (B) Specials, there was an overwhelming wish to preserve the green uniform. Speaking on behalf of the whole organisation, the Central Representative Body said it was opposed to any name or uniform change.”

Unionist parties reacted angrily in Northern Ireland in 2002 when the British government changed the RUC’s name to the Police Service of Northern Ireland as part of a package of police reforms aimed at persuading nationalists and Catholics to join.

However, at the outset of the Troubles in 1969, a committee on police reform under the chairmanship of Lord Hunt of Llanfairwaterdine was told by officers they were concerned that decisions taken by the Unionist government at Stormont on the controversial issue of parades had tarnished the image of the RUC among Catholics.

The committee on police reform was established by the then Home Secretary James Callaghan following bitter sectarian street clashes in Belfast, Derry and other towns, which resulted in soldiers being sent to Northern Ireland.

Mr Ryder’s book, which charts the turbulent history of the RUC from its emergence in 1922 after Ireland’s partition to the creation of the PSNI, revealed one officer told the committee the Force was viewed as a tool of the government, the Unionist party and Orange Order by Catholics because of parades decisions.

A district inspector in the border town of Newry also complained that he had been overruled after he opposed the rerouting of a Catholic civil rights march.

While some officers told Lord Hunt they encountered bitter opposition from priests, Catholic schools and newspapers to attempts to recruit members, Cardinal Conway insisted claims that Catholic recruits were regarded as traitors by their community were “highly exaggerated“.

However he told the committee: “In the minds of Roman Catholics, the RUC is also remembered for acts of partiality in favour of Protestants, for allegations of brutality and for such activities as the midnight arrests in the 1930s of persons suspected of IRA activities.”

The Hunt Committee ended all military-style duties by the RUC, abolishing the Ulster Special Constabulary (or B Specials as they were known) which was drawn exclusively from the Protestant community.

It also proposed the setting up of an RUC Reserve, the creation of a Police Authority, the disarming of the force and closer links to other British police forces.

Mr Ryder’s book also claims:

:: The British government considered a complete military withdrawal from Northern Ireland up to two months before soldiers were deployed on the streets in August 1969 after the eruption of street clashes which ignited the Troubles.

:: James Callaghan considered replacing the entire RUC command after the 1969 riots.

:: Some senior RUC officers expressed reservations in 1971 about the proposed deployment of in-depth interrogation techniques developed by the Army in Aden, Cyprus and Malaysia and used against republicans during internment. A European Court of Human Rights ruling in 1976 accused the UK of “inhuman and degrading treatment".

:: British intelligence chiefs and military commanders were highly critical of the RUC’s inability to raise enough officers to deal with disorder and the reliance of the Special Branch on “speculation and guesswork” in gathering intelligence.

:: The fate of the RUC was sealed when Protestant Orange Order members were forced down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown in a dramatic about-turn by their Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley. The batoning of nationalist protesters off the road to make way for a parade which had been barred from entering the nationalist area for five days was described by the Catholic Primate of Ireland, Cardinal Cathal Daly, as having a similar impact as Bloody Sunday.