The first response to The Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland must be to commend Mr Chris Patten and his colleagues for their visionary and far-reaching proposals. The report reflects both the breadth of vision and the depth of professional experience of the commission's members. If implemented, its proposals on training, culture, human rights, accountability and responsiveness to local needs would make the new Northern Ireland Police Service the very model of what a modern, professional police organisation should be. Indeed, it is fair to suggest that the community in the Republic would be well served if many of the suggested reforms were to be applied to the Garda Siochana. It was never likely that any sector of the community in Northern Ireland would be fully satisfied with the Patten report. If it were otherwise, at this point, it would axiomatically signal that it was weighted too far in one direction or another. But it is regrettable that supposedly responsible leaders of unionism have already reacted in a manner which can only be described as tribal. Mr David Trimble's description of it as "shoddy" and a "gratuitous insult" is a shrill, almost hysterical, misuse of language.
Predictably also, some in the nationalist community will take the view that the changes do not go far enough. But there is much in the report to assimilate and to study and Mr Patten's own urgings that there should be no rush to judgment should be heeded. During the forthcoming reflection period, there will be no shortage of those who will seek to use it to serve their own narrow political interests. The wise words of Seamus Mallon yesterday bear repetition. The report, he said, is not about sectional interests. "It is not about nationalist policing or unionist policing. It's about policing for all the people of Northern Ireland."
The prospect of Sinn Fein representatives taking their places on the new Policing Board must cause the greatest anguish for many, not least among the relatives, friends and families of the 302 RUC officers murdered in the line of duty over the past 30 years. The proposed name change and the recommended abolition of the existing oath, badge and symbols will also evoke strong emotions. But for all the RUC's courage and dedication, these symbols have been divisive, reflecting one tradition's ascendancy over another. The life blood of any police force, no matter how efficient or professional, is the support it draws from the community it serves. The Belfast Agreement promised a new political order - based on mutual respect and compromise between traditions in Northern Ireland. The Agreement acknowledged - as did those who signed up to it - that the creation of a police force, in no way identified with either side of the political, cultural and religious divide is essential.
The timing of the report's publication is hardly propitious. It was originally intended that it would be released soon after the establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive. Instead, it has emerged as the Mitchell review of the Belfast Agreement is under way and after a summer in which the IRA repeatedly violated its own ceasefire. It remains to be seen how the impasse over decommissioning and the creation of an executive is to be resolved. But the full implementation of the Agreement and the creation of new policing structures must be inextricably linked. For now, the British Government would do well to press ahead with the reforms, once the consultation process is complete. If and when the Patten proposals take hold, nationalist politicians must then exhort their community to join a remodelled police force that could stand comparison with the best in the world.