'Reflecting
all shades of opinion'
Public Attitudinal Surveys and the Construction of Police Legitimacy
in Northern Ireland
This 'anglicisation' of the RUC was an early and not overly successful attempt
at enhancing the legitimacy of the force among the nationalist/Catholic
community in Northern Ireland. However, as the political situation in Northern
Ireland deteriorated (after 1972) the British government was forced to rethink
its security strategy. Spaces does not permit a detailed examination of
the major tenets of this (for a full discussion see Ellison 1997; Smyth
1988; Tomlinson 1980) except to note that from the mid-1970s the RUC was
pushed to the forefront in the maintenance of internal security, and political
violence (particularly that of republicans) was to be 'normalised' - or
'criminalised' - as a simple law and order issue. Two key elements of criminalisation
need to be highlighted since they are of direct relevance to the current
discussion.
First, drawing upon lessons in the colonies there was a widespread emphasis
on the centrality of 'British' policing methods to the management of conflict
(4). Of crucial ideological importance was that the RUC's historical role
as a paramilitary force be downplayed in favour of one that stressed an
'ordinary' or 'normal' policing dimension (Evelagh 1978; Newman 1978a, 1978b,
1979). Secondly, a central aspect of criminalisation hinged upon what Tomlinson
(1980) has termed 'consensus mobilisation' whereby the legitimacy of dissent
is denied and popular support for the RUC, and the 'security forces' in
general, is cultivated (or manufactured) over that for the 'terrorists'.
NOTES
*Department of Criminology, Keele University. Grateful thanks to Mike Brogden,
Bill Rolston, Aogan Mulcahy and the anonymous reviewers for their comments
and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper.
1 O'Dochartaigh (1997) in his analysis of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights
Movement has argued that the harsh state response (particularly that of
the RUC and the auxiliary Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) to the demands
of the campaigners was a major conjunctural factor in creating the conditions
for a militant republicanism to emerge in the form of a rejuvenated IRA.
This analysis is supported by recent conceptual developments in social movements
theory, particularly in respect of the relationship between policing, mass
mobilisation and violence (see for example, Melucci 1996, ch.16).
2 The new force for Northern Ireland was originally called the Ulster Constabulary.
However, following a petition to King George by the Unionist Government,
approval was given to include 'Royal' in the title. The Royal Ulster Constabulary
came officially into being on 22 May 1922.
3 This latter feature was never implemented however. The new uniforms were
made but under pressure from the Unionist government were not distributed
to the RUC.
4 As Brogden (1987) and Cain (1991) demonstrate, the relationship between
'British' and 'colonial' models of policing was often much more fluid than
conventionally assumed with features of the former often used to provide
legitimation for the latter. Interestingly, Sir Kenneth Newman, who is widely
heralded as principal architect of the criminalisation strategy served for
a time as a Detective Constable with the Palestine police in the 1950s.
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