The British government is planning to dispatch up to 60 RUC officers to Kosovo. The RUC officers will form part of a larger British police contingent made up of about 100 officers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A British government source said the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, who visited Kosovo at the weekend, was eager to make maximum use of the RUC's experience in dealing with a divided community.
The RUC yesterday would only confirm that it was aware of the plans and was looking for volunteers. "We are at a very early stage. The numbers, timetable and places of operation have not been finalised yet," an RUC spokesman commented.
According to a report in yesterday's Sunday Life, a senior RUC officer last week issued a memo to all ranks in an appeal for recruits.
"It is anticipated that a large delegation of police officers from the UK will shortly be required in Kosovo, and there is an indication that the government would like to maximise the RUC's representation - possibly up to 60 officers of all ranks," the memo is said to read.
According to the memo, RUC officers have relevant experience, including handling arms, working alongside military forces and dealing with a divided community.
The UN forces are in particular need of police officers in fields such as organised crime, fraud and corruption, forensic analysis and counter-terrorism.
The RUC already forms part of the British police contingent in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A senior RUC officer is expected to be appointed to a senior position in the British police mission in the area.
On his visit to Kosovo, Mr Blair told cheering crowds he hoped tolerance could replace strife in the country. "Peace must apply to all people, whatever their religion, whatever their class, whatever their background," he said.
The scale of the task facing the RUC officers became apparent when a bomb exploded in an uncompleted Serb Orthodox cathedral in the Kosovan capital Pristina on Saturday night. While the church only sustained minimal damage, there are many reports of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians on Serbs and their property.
The Patten Commission on policing in Northern Ireland is expected to call for a large increase in the size of the RUC, with a major recruitment drive among Catholics, according to a report in this morning's Financial Times.
The paper reports that Mr Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, has privately warned that the Treasury will need to find substantial sums to fund the reform. Mr Patten's report on the future of the RUC, promised as part of last year's Good Friday agreement, is due to be published in the autumn.
Mr Patten's recommendation would see the overall size of the force grow in the short term with recruits from the Catholic community. Generous redundancy packages would be offered to older Protestant officers to take early retirement.