The Independent Police Commission, set up as part of the Belfast Agreement to examine the RUC, held its first meeting yesterday in Belfast.
The commission is chaired by the former governor of Hong Kong, Mr Chris Patten, and has seven other members. It is to examine all aspects of the RUC and make recommendations for reform of the force to make it more acceptable to nationalists.
The other members of the commission are: Sir John Smith, formerly a senior London police officer; Ms Kathleen O'Toole, Secretary of Public Safety in Massachusetts; Mr Peter Smith QC, a leading Northern Ireland lawyer; Senator Maurice Hayes, former Northern Ireland Ombudsman; Prof Clifford Shearing, a Canadian expert in criminology; Dr Gerald Lynch, president of John Jay College, New York; and Ms Lucy Woods, chief executive of British Telecom in Northern Ireland.