The Chief Constable of the RUC has said the setting up of an independent commission into the RUC's future, as provided for in the Northern Ireland agreement, was not something he had sought.
Mr Ronnie Flanagan said: "It's not something I would welcome because I don't see it as designed as having the primary objective of improving the policing service. It is designed for a political purpose, albeit an entirely legitimate one."
Interviewed in this morning's Daily Telegraph, Mr Flanagan said the RUC had been " the bulwark between anarchy and disorder", laying the foundations for peace in Northern Ireland. "I am convinced the RUC is unsurpassed and therefore it's up to us to demonstrate that to any commission. People have tended to use us as a political football and my officers are determined to avoid that," he said.
Mr Flanagan told the Daily Telegraph he was determined to root out any prejudice within the RUC and to consider changes to working environments to ensure both Catholic and Protestant officers should feel comfortable with their own traditions.
He said he would also examine if there was a need to fly the Union flag from RUC stations so often.
There would be "dramatic change" if a peaceful environment developed. In particular, the number of Catholic officers would increase because Catholics and their families would no longer be under threat from the IRA.
But there would be no place for former paramilitaries in a reformed force. "We have seen far too clearly demonstrated what paramilitary justice is all about," he said.
Mr Flanagan was confident that any independent commission inquiry into the RUC's future would conclude it was the finest police force in the world. Any attempt to change its name would be "tokenism" and he expressed his "wonderment" that paramilitary prisoners could be released en masse.
Although the present terrorist threat was posed mainly by splinter groups such as the INLA, Continuity IRA, and the Loyalist Volunteer Force, the Provisional IRA still presented a considerable danger, he said.