RUC officers, politicians and the public today must come to terms with proposed sweeping changes to the North's policing service that in particular pose difficult challenges to unionists and republicans.
The proposals, according to informed sources, fall short of the Sinn Fein demand for RUC disbandment but involve the dropping of the RUC name and badge, and an end to the flying of the Union flag at police stations.
The depth of the RUC, unionist and republican response to the report is expected to be predicated on the context in which the recommendations are set. Sources close to the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, said he would give the report a fair wind if any changes were conditional on a political settlement and a peaceful climate in Northern Ireland.
In a radical attempt to correct the religious imbalance in the force - expected to be renamed the Northern Ireland Police Service - future appointments will be based on one Catholic recruit for every Protestant recruit, the sources said.
However, Sir Ronnie is expected to remain as head of the force, and any redundancies will be based on a voluntary system of generous packages. Police officers will not have to resign and reapply for their jobs.
The strength of the force is due to be reduced from more than 13,000 to less than 8,000. The Police Authority is to be disbanded to be replaced by a new overseeing board that is likely to include at least two Sinn Fein politicians, if the party signs up to the report.
The former Hong Kong governor, Mr Chris Patten, and his fellow commissioners are issuing their 128-page report containing more than 170 proposals in Belfast at 10 a.m. today. Directly afterwards the British and Irish governments, Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the party leaders will give their initial responses based on briefings they received from the commission.
Sir Ronnie said last night that his officers were "open and prepared" for change. He acknowledged that some of the proposals would be "hurtful" for the force but that his officers would carefully consider the recommendations.
"We will be debating this coolly, rationally and professionally just in the way we go about our daily business," he told BBC Radio Ulster. "This report clearly marks a milestone, not only for policing but perhaps for the development of society," he added.
The Chief Constable, according to police sources, is concerned that the proposals could allow local police boards buy in additional assistance that could open the way for paramilitaries to be involved in second-tier policing. He would be certain to oppose any such suggestions, the sources said.
The name change is expected to pose great emotional difficulties for unionists. Mr Michael McGimpsey, security spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly grouping, said such a move would be "a repudiation of all the sacrifices of the RUC over the past 30 years".
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said his party would not be giving any "knee-jerk response".
The party would discuss the proposals carefully and consult its membership. "We will be measured about this," said Mr McLaughlin. "But if we find that we have the same RUC but with a name change clearly there are going to be difficulties."
The comments of the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, speaking after he was briefed on the report, may be a foretaste of some of the unionist reaction, particularly from anti-Belfast Agreement unionists.
"The Patten Commission is, as we said it would be, the death knell of the RUC," said Dr Paisley. "The RUC is now to be offered as a final sacrificial lamb to appease the Roman Catholic republican murderers and their nationalist fellow-travellers," he added.
The SDLP Assembly member, Ms Brid Rodgers, said her party would examine the report carefully. The party's response to the report would be measured against the requirement for a new broadly acceptable policing service in Northern Ireland.
Ms Liz O'Donnell, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, said in Belfast yesterday that reasonable people accepted the need for change.
