The RUC is facing a major period of change, according to the newly-appointed Deputy Chief Constable, Mr Colin Cramphorn. He said it was too soon for him to comment on how the RUC could improve its credibility with the nationalist community, but added: "I have no desire to see change for change's sake".
Speaking to the media for the first time since coming to the post from West Mercia Constabulary, Mr Cramphorn said the Policing Commission headed by the former governor of Hong Kong, Mr Chris Patten, was drawing evidence from around the world to find the best way forward.
He acknowledged that community policing was one aspect under scrutiny but Mr Cramphorn played down speculation that his vision of community policing could mean a "two-tiered" force. "It is about recognising that the issues of crime and disorder are ones that affect the whole community and that the community at large has the answers. Policing is an important part of those answers but it is only a part."
Mr Cramphorn declined to say if jobs would be lost, although he admitted that 13,000 uniformed police officers would not be needed in Northern Ireland if peace was consolidated.
Responding to his remarks, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said yesterday: "Changes in the RUC are not enough. The RUC is unacceptable. Reform is not an option, an entirely new and real policing service is required".
The DUP Assembly member for East Londonderry, Mr Gregory Campbell, said the new deputy had "inadvertently" given impetus to the concept of community-style policing. "His comments ought to give everyone interested in impartial policing a sense of foreboding," he added.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the commission, Mr Patten, has called on members of the public to express their views on police reform. The eight-member commission, which expected to receive thousands of responses from the public, has received only 300 submissions since June with the final deadline a week away.
"I do think it's very important that anyone who's got views on policing in Northern Ireland should let us know them and should get in touch with the independent commission," Mr Patten said.
Phase two of the commission's work begins shortly when it will hear submissions from political parties and interest groups. The commission's final report and recommendations will be published next summer.
A survey of social attitudes in the North conducted by the University of Ulster and released yesterday shows that two-thirds of Catholics believe the RUC would bend the rules to obtain a conviction compared with fewer than half of Protestant respondents.