Senior members of the RUC are "reluctant" to embrace changes to the organisation and display a natural "defensiveness" towards new ideas, Mr Colin Smith, the Inspector of Constabulary with responsibility for the RUC, said yesterday.
Reporting to the Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, Mr Smith, the former chief constable of Thames Valley Police, said the excessive caution in introducing change among senior officers slowed up reforms.
He told MPs that while the RUC had acted on every recommendation, "there has been a reluctance to take brave decisions and move forward. The tremendous bravery they have shown in the last 28 years should now be translated into courage in leadership."
The RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, was "totally and completely responsive to every recommendation I have made", he said, but "there is a tendency to want to set up a working party, take the temperature, look for ideas - a reluctance to reach the point where a decision has to be made".
However, Mr Smith qualified his comments when he insisted that any "constructive criticism" of Mr Flanagan should be seen against the Chief Constable's "desire for impartiality and courage".
On discrimination and sexual harassment within the force, Mr Smith said a significant minority of members had come up against the problem. Pointing to the RUC's community awareness training programme, aimed at fostering cross-community understanding, he said senior officers, as well as junior ranks, would benefit from the training.
However, Mr Smith clashed with the DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, over his reference to a "neutral working environment" as a means of encouraging a balanced RUC profile.
Mr Robinson warned Mr Smith that perhaps he had gone too far. Removing flags and emblems, such as Queen Elizabeth's portrait, from RUC offices could be seen as a political act.
Mr Smith said the RUC's aim was to enforce law and order and "if something is peripheral to that, it has to be seen as of secondary importance".
He added that he did not believe RUC officers should belong to organisations such as the Orange Order, the Masons or the Hibernians.
Turning to recruitment, Mr Smith said recent surveys into the number of Catholics joining the RUC showed that the main reason why the figure was low was that Catholics feared intimidation and attacks upon them and their families. The selection process, which takes 18 months, may also give Catholics time to reconsider their applications.