Royal Irish Constabulary

Through the Peace Preservation Act in 1814 the first organised police force, later known as Royal Irish Constabulary, was established. After the formation of the provincial constabularies, the Irish Constabulary Act in 1822 created a force in each province with chief constables and inspectors general under the UK civil administration controlled by the Dublin Castle administration. In 1836 the first constabulary code of regulations was published. Even though the discipline was strict and the pay low, the number of members increased. During the years the police has faced civil unrest among the Irish rural poor and was involved in many bloody confrontations. For example, during the Tithe War. Founded in 1858, the advent of the Irish Republican

Because of the increasing Catholic migration in Belfast resulting in the fivefold growing of the working population and many sectarian riots, the Belfast Town Police was replaced by the RIC. During the 1907 Belfast Dock strike, whose initiator was trade union leader Jim Larkin, about 70% of the police force declared to support the strikers. They even carried out their own strike for higher wages and a better pension. Before the ending of the strike on 28 August 1907 extra British troops were deployed to Belfast. And by transferring striking policemen out of Belfast their demands were not fulfilled. On Easter Monday, the 24 April 1916, the six-day-lasting Easter Rising began. Although the RIC was suspected, the Royal Commission cleared the RIC of any blame. In the end because of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the RIC was disbanded in 1922. In the Irish Free State the RIC was replaced by the Garda Siochana and in Northern Ireland by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In the following I will concentrate on the Police Service in Northern Ireland. Especially on background information about the Royal Ulster Constabulary and also about the Police reform from the RUC to the current Police service, called the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which was concluded after the Good Friday

Even though the name changed, the structure of organization as well as the uniform resembled the one used by the RIC. The uniform was supposed to be renewed but the new design didn’t prove popular so it was replaced by the old design. In terms of organization, the structure of the eight major areas of command including: the city of Belfast, with its commissioner being the third highest ranking in the RUC, Londonderry City, and the six counties, who make up the whole of Northern Ireland, were still being used by the RUC. However, in 1931 Londonderry was merged with the surrounding county, with county headquarters residing in the city. But the partition was going even further as the counties, as well as Belfast, were being split into districts. These districts on the other hand were supervised by county or district inspectors. Moreover did the RUC adopt the rank structure of the RIC “with an Inspector General, Deputy Inspector General, Belfast City Commissioner, County and District Inspectors, Head Constables, Sergeants and Constables.” After the partition of Ireland, the RUC clearly differed itself from the RIC by being “the only British force with a land boundary with another state.” The city of Belfast, Londonderry and the six counties became the eight major areas of