The RUC Chief Constable has announced the introduction of 29 new district command units which will replace previous police divisions and aim to enhance the force's role in the community.
The network of police districts, which emanated from recommendations in the Patten report and come into effect on April 1st, are geographically aligned to local council areas.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan said the creation of the command units was the first step towards a force directly involved with the community. He was confident of enhanced interaction, "even in those communities that in the past have traditional difficulties in coming forward and working openly with us".
District police partnership boards, involving politicians from the main parties, were due to oversee the work of each unit. However, their formation had been postponed pending agreement between the parties on the policing issue.
Sir Ronnie said failure to reach agreement would weaken the effectiveness of the new structures, but he was confident agreement would be reached.
Under the new structures RUC headquarters would be "slimmed down . . . Decision-making will be decentralised to local police commanders allowing for greater autonomy over resource allocation and police strategy", he said.
The new commander for Belfast West, Chief Supt Brian McCargo, said he wished to liase with republicans in the area. The new style of policing was about finding local solutions to local problems, he said.
However, Chief Supt McCargo stressed that the RUC could not accept the actions of vigilantes or local justice programmes with no legal power to bring people to court. He added that more crime would be reported if people were not intimidated.
Chief Supt Stephen Grange, district commander of Belfast South, said officers would link into specific communities. "A lot of the policing issues we face with communities are local community-based difficulties and we need to link individual officers to that," he said.
Supt Julie Lindsay, the district commander for Carrickfergus, said the new approach did not mean more officers would be visible on the streets. "But what people will see through time is a change in the way they are policed," she said.