An excellent start has been made to the reform of policing in Northern Ireland, according to reports published today charting the beginning of changes.
The Oversight Commissioner for Policing Reform, Mr Tom Constantine, said the introduction of the changes creating the Police Service of Northern Ireland out of the old Royal Ulster Constabulary was "the largest and most complex such task undertaken by a law enforcement agency".
Mr Constantine said: "The police service and the other relevant institutions have made an excellent start on fulfilling this very difficult task".
He said the establishment of the Policing Board in November and the first wave of 50-50, Catholic/Protestant recruitment were "very important first steps in beginning the enormous amount of change that will take place".
Although his report was largely positive a review carried out during September produced several areas of concern, he said.
He highlighted a lack of documentary evidence of policies and plans being provided by the service to help them assess progress.
He said his team had believed, from briefings, that many were already in place or would be in place in a short period.
He said: "However, many of them were not available but there is a reasonable explanation for a lot of that. We did not give them a very long period of time to supply these documents ."
However, he was full of praise for the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the change team he set up in the force to monitor and oversee progress. He said he was "very impressed" with their skills.
Last week Sir Ronnie announced his plans to retire as chief constable some time next year. Mr Constantine said it was "tough to tell" whether that would have any impact on the pace of change.
PA