Royal Ulster Constabulary

(abbr the RUC)

the police force of Northern Ireland, named in 1922. It worked closely with the British army during the years of political violence in Northern Ireland. After the Good Friday Agreement a review of policing in Northern Ireland led to the renaming of the RUC as the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001.

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▪ Northern Ireland police

      state police force in Northern Ireland, established in 1922. The RUC had a paramilitary character until 1970, when the force was remodeled along the lines of police forces in Great Britain. In 1970 the security of Northern Ireland became the responsibility of the RUC, the British army, and the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The British government has tried to keep the RUC as the chief peacekeeping force in Northern Ireland, while the army and the UDR play as minor roles as possible. Frequent complaints of RUC mistreatment of suspects and prisoners have led to investigations and some changes in procedures, such as closed-circuit monitoring of interview rooms at the Castlereagh interrogation centre at Belfast. As part of the reform implemented following the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (1998), the RUC was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001.

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