While agreed structures of government were always an essential prerequisite for the formation of a cross-community police service in Northern Ireland, they were never likely to be sufficient in themselves to achieve that elusive goal.

Even in homogeneous, liberal democracies the ideal of policing by consent can prove tantalisingly difficult to secure. In a deeply divided society such as Northern Ireland, where the very origin, identity and ethos of the RUC have always seemed to personify the cultural and political traditions of the unionist majority, that challenge is magnified many times over.

As is often the case in these matters, the broad parameters of what might appear to be an objective and rational solution are easy to state.

The new police service must: (1) be provided with a name, uniform and symbols which do not favour one tradition over the other; (2) have a composition which is broadly representative of both traditions and local communities; (3) comply with the highest human rights standards in the exercise of their powers and discharge of their duties; (4) be subject to accountability mechanisms which can deliver appropriate remedies for abuse of power and neglect of duty, and which generally render the individual members of the force responsive to the legitimate policing needs of the community at central and local levels; (5) show a willingness to engage meaningfully with the Garda Siochana and other European police forces in areas of common concern.

Despite its critics, one of the monumental achievements of the Patten report is to translate these generalities into a specific programme of action, notable for its clarity, rationality, pragmatism and vision.

Unfortunately, much of the resultant debate has focused on the trappings of identity and ethos. While undoubtedly these are of critical importance to the prospects of the new police service achieving cross-community acceptance, accountability and human rights will prove much more significant factors in the long term.

The prize of a new cross-community police service cannot be achieved by any single or immediate action. The individual building blocks will have to be put together over a period of time.

During that arduous process both communities will be required to exercise restraint and to trust that the ultimate product is a police service to which they can easily give their support and allegiance.

When that restraint is sorely tested by individual police decisions or actions, effective accountability mechanisms and respect for human rights will play a vital role in ensuring the survival of the police experiment and, by extension, the whole peace process.

They will be the solid foundation upon which the seeds of the first cross-community police service can take root and grow in Northern Ireland.

The Patten report's proposals on police accountability and human rights would appear to offer the best hope for laying this foundation.

Its proposals on the establishment of a new policing board and district policing partnership boards, if implemented in full, will achieve a level of police accountability and community participation in policing which is unprecedented in Northern Ireland, and a major advance on standard practice in most other common law jurisdictions.

On the vital subject of police complaints, the Patten proposals build upon the innovative machinery which has just been introduced in the form of the Police Ombudsman and her own independent team of investigators.

This new system was introduced pursuant to one of the most farsighted and clearly reasoned reports ever to have been produced on the subject of police complaints anywhere. The author, Senator Maurice Hayes, later served as a leading member of the Patten Commission.

Unfortunately, the police complaints legislation omitted some of his critical proposals empowering the Ombudsman to carry out inquiries on her own initiative. Happily, these proposals have reappeared in the Patten report with added emphasis.

Of course, the standards against which police officers are called to account have a critical bearing on the capacity of the formal machinery to deliver meaningful accountability.

Accordingly, the Patten Commission asserts that the highest international human rights standards must permeate every aspect of operational policing at an individual and institutional level.

It charges the new police board with the task of monitoring closely police performance against these standards.

While these proposals on accountability and human rights are presented in a compelling manner, the task of securing their acceptance may prove even more prohibitive than that associated with names and symbols.

The most strenuous resistance is likely to come from within the RUC itself. The Chief Constable and individual members of the RUC, in particular, have long grown accustomed to being masters in their own houses.

Ever since the Hunt Committee freed him from the partisan control of a unionist minister of home affairs in 1970, the chief constable has managed to enjoy a measure of independence and autonomy from political representatives at central and local level which is unparalleled in most Western democracies.

The Police Authority for Northern Ireland, which was designed to fill the resultant democratic deficit, has functioned more as a cheerleader for the RUC than as an effective accountability mechanism.

While there has been an "independent" procedure for citizens' complaints against the police since the mid-1970s, it has never functioned as a truly independent system.

Its failure to check or to remedy the several high-profile and sustained abuses of police power over the past 25 years has ensured that it never managed to capture the confidence of the nationalist community. The courts have proved equally disappointing in this regard, and in their supine response to challenges to the implementation of partisan policies in public order policing.

Turning the tide on this culture of police autonomy is arguably the most vital task facing the architects of policing and the future of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The Patten proposals have provided them with a road map which offers a sophisticated yet credible route for the difficult journey ahead. Converting those proposals into legislation and meaningful action on the ground, however, will require the sort of political vision and commitment which saw the introduction of the London Metropolitan Police in 1829, and the establishment of an unarmed Garda Siochana in a country still suffering from a bitter and divisive civil war.

Success in the creation of a cross-community police service in Northern Ireland will outstrip even these landmark achievements. It will also virtually guarantee the future of the peace process.

Dermot Walsh is professor of law at the University of Limerick