Sir, - Bearing in mind the desire of the majority of people in Northern Ireland to be similar to Britain in jurisdiction and so many other matters, the present police top command structure there has puzzled me betimes. In Britain itself it has been found over the decades that a county-based constabulary headed up by a chief constable has operated efficiently as a law enforcement force. Head constables cross co-operate with neighbouring head constables and with a head office in London under state control.
In view of the considerable differences in ethos - political, religious, and other characteristics between the various counties of Northern Ireland and the aforementioned desire to copy efficient methods of governing in Britain, it would appear that the use of the British system of county head constables would be better than the present centralised police control system. This should give better results from the public point of view, especially with the potentially better atmosphere following the Belfast Agreement.
The appointment of six chief constables could be divided fairly by arranging three for each of the two main political groups - unionist and nationalist - and this would take care of the religious divisions also. These appointments could take place within the present operational structures. Tensions between police and public could be eased greatly by having chief constables of similar ethos to that of the majority political population within a given county. With the passage of time, and new police recruiting in line with the law on the religious persuasions of new employees, this would improve local police acceptance.
The present rather peculiar name of Royal Ulster Constabulary could be queried later by the new Assembly, bearing in mind that "Royal" is being used for a population that is only about 55 per cent royalty-minded, and "Ulster" used for the Northern Ireland area which is only about 55 per cent of the province of Ulster, the rest being in the Republic.
The above arrangement would help to police the area with less rancour and help maintain law and order more easily in the six cornered political boxing ring of Northern Ireland, under the eyes of its two referees, London and Dublin. -Yours, etc., James Martin,
Terenure, Dublin 6W.