Misplaced Pages

#942057

168-693: The Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) following the partition of Ireland . At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after

336-402: A cost-benefit argument to obtain support from businesses standing to benefit – allowed him to achieve what Henry and John Fielding failed for their Bow Street detectives. Unlike the stipendiary system at Bow Street, the river police were full-time, salaried officers prohibited from taking private fees. His other contribution was the concept of preventive policing ; his police were to act as

504-454: A 10-mile radius of London. The word police was borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and the concept of police itself, were "disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression". Before the 19th century, the first use of the word police recorded in government documents in

672-740: A 1901 edition of the All Ireland Review , a writer called "M.M." suggests that the Red Hand is named after the founder of the Clanna Rudraige, Rudraige mac Sithrigi , and that Rudraige's name may mean "red wrist". In another edition a "Y.M." suggests likewise, arguing that Rudraige's name means "red arm". They also suggest that the Cróeb Ruad (Red Branch) of ancient Ulaid may actually come from crob and ruadh (red hand). In another legend which has become widespread,

840-452: A chain of command, with constables and sergeants managing lower-ranking birri , that they wore uniforms, that they were housed together with other employees of the podestà together with a number of servants including cooks and stable-keepers, that their parentage and places of origin were meticulously recorded, and that most were not native to Bologna, with many coming from outside Italy. The English system of maintaining public order since

1008-410: A common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession. First attested in English in the early 15th century, originally in a range of senses encompassing '(public) policy; state; public order', the word police comes from Middle French police ('public order, administration, government'), in turn from Latin politia , which is the romanization of

1176-469: A detailed report, alleging RUC and paramilitary violations against children's rights during the Troubles . Both Catholic and Protestant children alleged regular and severe physical assault and mental harassment at the hands of RUC officers, usually conducted to force a false confession of a crime. In an accompanying statement, HRW cited allegations that: Police officers and soldiers harass young people on

1344-459: A formalization and regularization of existing policing methods, similar to the unofficial 'thief-takers'. What made them different was their formal attachment to the Bow Street magistrates' office, and payment by the magistrate with funds from the central government. They worked out of Fielding's office and court at No. 4 Bow Street, and did not patrol but served writs and arrested offenders on

1512-608: A hand gules, or a bloody hand." The oldest baronets used a dexter (right) hand just like the O'Neills; however, it later became a sinister (left) hand. The exclusive rights to the use of the Red Hand symbol has proved a matter of debate over the centuries, primarily whether it belonged to the O'Neills or the Magennises . The O'Neills became the chief dynasty of the Cenél nEógain of the Northern Uí Néill and later

1680-693: A highly visible deterrent to crime by their permanent presence on the Thames. London was fast reaching a size unprecedented in world history, due to the onset of the Industrial Revolution . It became clear that the locally maintained system of volunteer constables and "watchmen" was ineffective, both in detecting and preventing crime. A parliamentary committee was appointed to investigate the system of policing in London . Upon Sir Robert Peel being appointed as Home Secretary in 1822, he established

1848-609: A leaked internal RUC document which reported that a third of all Catholic RUC officers had reported suffering religious discrimination and/or harassment from Protestant fellow officers. According to The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC , written by RUC reservist Richard Doherty , 314 officers were killed and over 9,000 were injured during the existence of the RUC. All but 12 of

SECTION 10

#1732772877943

2016-489: A local prefectural office. The concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Korea and Japan. In Babylonia , law enforcement tasks were initially entrusted to individuals with military backgrounds or imperial magnates during the Old Babylonian period, but eventually, law enforcement was delegated to officers known as paqūdus , who were present in both cities and rural settlements. A paqūdu

2184-558: A military advisor. The RUC was to be 3,000-strong, recruiting 2,000 ex-RIC and 1,000 "A Specials". It was intended that half of the RIC men recruited were to be Catholic, making up a third of positions within the force. However, fewer than half the expected number of Catholics came forward and the balance was made up with more A Specials, who continued to exist as a separate force. Throughout its existence, republican political leaders and most Roman Catholic clerics discouraged Catholics from joining

2352-749: A model for the police forces in many countries, including the United States and most of the British Empire . Bobbies can still be found in many parts of the Commonwealth of Nations . In Australia , organized law enforcement emerged soon after British colonization began in 1788. The first law enforcement organizations were the Night Watch and Row Boat Guard, which were formed in 1789 to police Sydney . Their ranks were drawn from well-behaved convicts deported to Australia. The Night Watch

2520-490: A modern county , which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term sheriff evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of posse comitatus , meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the frankpledge system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had

2688-591: A paper read before the Royal Irish Academy in April 1900 noted the use of a right hand by the O'Neills around 1335, and surmises that it may have been for them a symbol signifying divine assistance and strength, whilst also suggesting that the ancient Phoenicians may have brought the symbol to Ireland. In medieval Irish literature, several real and legendary kings were given the byname 'red hand' or 'red handed' to signify that they were great warriors. One

2856-546: A particular neighborhood. This system typically did not apply to the Samurai themselves. Samurai clans were expected to resolve disputes among each other through negotiation, or when that failed through duels. Only rarely did Samurai bring their disputes to a magistrate or answer to police. In Joseon -era Korea, the Podocheong emerged as a police force with the power to arrest and punish criminals. Established in 1469 as

3024-630: A police dedicated to crime prevention was "perfectly congenial to the principle of the British constitution". Moreover, he went so far as to praise the French system, which had reached "the greatest degree of perfection" in his estimation. With the initial investment of £4,200, the new force the Marine Police began with about 50 men charged with policing 33,000 workers in the river trades, of whom Colquhoun claimed 11,000 were known criminals and "on

3192-521: A range of crimes including giving weapons, information and transport to loyalist paramilitaries as well as carrying out shooting and bombing attacks of their own. Weir alleged that senior officers, including Chief Superintendent Harry Breen , were aware of and approved of their activity. On 18 April 2003 as part of the third report into collusion between Ulster loyalist paramilitaries, RUC, and British Army, Sir John Stevens published an Overview and Recommendations document (Stevens 3). Stevens' intention

3360-472: A reflection of the denominational proportions of the population of Northern Ireland at that time. The first two thousand places were filled quickly and those reserved for Catholics were filled mainly by ex-RIC members fleeing north. Due to reluctance by the political establishment to employ too many Catholics (who were seen as potentially disloyal to the Protestant and unionist ethos of the new government)

3528-654: A report released on 22 January 2007, the Police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O'Loan stated Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) informers committed serious crimes, including murder, with the full knowledge of their handlers. The report stated that RUC Special Branch officers created false statements, blocked evidence searches and "baby-sat" suspects during interviews. Awards for gallantry for individual officers since 1969 included 16 George Medals , 103 Queen's Gallantry Medals , 111 Queen's Commendations for Bravery and 69 Queen's Police Medals . On 12 April 2000,

SECTION 20

#1732772877943

3696-599: A second and more effective committee, and acted upon its findings. Royal assent to the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 was given and the Metropolitan Police Service was established on September 29, 1829, in London . Peel, widely regarded as the father of modern policing, was heavily influenced by the social and legal philosophy of Jeremy Bentham , who called for a strong and centralised, but politically neutral, police force for

3864-483: A temporary organization, its role solidified into a permanent one. In Sweden , local governments were responsible for law and order by way of a royal decree issued by Magnus III in the 13th century. The cities financed and organized groups of watchmen who patrolled the streets. In the late 1500s in Stockholm, patrol duties were in large part taken over by a special corps of salaried city guards . The city guard

4032-581: A variety of reasons, including the treatment of Catholic civilians by the Ulster Special Constabulary during the recent conflict and the mistaken belief that Northern Ireland would be ceded to the Free State in the not too distant future. Protestant fears of strategically important government services being infiltrated by Catholics disloyal to the new state polarised society and made most Catholics unwilling and/or unable to join either

4200-481: A wholesale reorganisation of inter-community, governmental and policing systems, including a power-sharing executive. The bias, and the under-representation of Catholics and nationalists in the RUC led to, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, a fundamental policing review, headed by Chris Patten , a former British Governor of Hong Kong and Conservative Minister under Margaret Thatcher . The review

4368-500: Is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 . From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles II. Thief-takers were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning

4536-519: Is the mythical High King of Ireland, Lugaid Lámderg (Lugaid the red handed), who, according to Eugene O'Curry , is cited in one Irish legend as being king of the Cruthin of Ulaid during the reign of the mythical Conchobar Mac Nessa . The O'Neills believed in the Middle Ages that a messianic 'red handed' king called Aodh Eangach would come to lead them and drive the English out of Ireland. In

4704-726: The Ancient Greek πολιτεία ( politeia ) 'citizenship, administration, civil polity'. This is derived from πόλις ( polis ) 'city'. Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period . In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. They were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by

4872-596: The Anglo-Irish Agreement led to loyalist assaults on more than 500 homes belonging to Catholics and RUC officers during the mid-1980s. At least 150 RUC families were forced to move as a result. In 1998 Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan stated in an interview on television that he was unhappy with any RUC officers belonging to the Orange Order or any of the other loyal orders . While the RUC refused to give any details on how many officers were members of

5040-676: The Anglo-Irish War largely precluded them from remaining in territory now controlled by their enemies. The percentage of Catholics in the RUC dropped as these men retired over time. Notable Catholics in the RUC include RUC Chief Constable Sir James Flanagan , who survived an IRA assassination attempt; Deputy Chief Constable Michael McAtamney; Assistant Chief Constable Cathal Ramsey; Chief Superintendent Frank Lagan, and Superintendents Kevin Benedict Sheehy and Brendan McGuigan. In December 1997, The Independent (London) published

5208-580: The Areopagus . In Sparta , the Ephors were in charge of maintaining public order as judges, and they used Sparta's Hippeis , a 300-member Royal guard of honor, as their enforcers. There were separate authorities supervising women, children, and agricultural issues. Sparta also had a secret police force called the crypteia to watch the large population of helots , or slaves. In the Roman Empire ,

Royal Ulster Constabulary - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-566: The Assyrians , Babylonians , Carthaginians , Chaldeans and Phoenicians . It is also used by Jews, Muslims, and can be found in use in Palestine and Morocco . Aboriginal Australians revered the hands of their deceased chieftains. In the published version of his paper Bigger mentions a book published after he'd read his paper, Horns of Plenty by F. T. Elworthy (though F.J. appears instead of F.T.), writing that it conclusively proved

5544-622: The City of London Police , to be seconded for a year. Young's appointment began the long process of turning the RUC into a British police service. The RUC Reserve was formed as an auxiliary police force, and all military-style duties were handed over to the newly formed Ulster Defence Regiment , which was under military command and replaced the B Specials. Callaghan selected Young, a career policeman, because no other British policeman could match his direct experience of policing acutely unstable societies and of reforming gendarmeries . from 1943 to 1945, he

5712-505: The Dungiven Orange Hall following a police baton charge against a crowd who had been throwing stones at the hall. Witnesses later said they had seen police batoning a figure in the doorway where McCloskey was found, although police claimed that he had been unconscious before the baton charge and may have been hit with a stone. He was taken to hospital and died the following day. On 11 October 1969, Constable Victor Arbuckle

5880-512: The Dál nAraidi after 773 ) that made up the ancient kingdom of Ulaid . The Red Hand symbol is believed to have been used by the O'Neills during its Nine Years' War (1594–1603) against English rule in Ireland , and the war cry lámh dearg Éireann abú ! ("the Red Hand of Ireland to victory") was also associated with them. An English writer of the time noted "The Ancient Red Hand of Ulster,

6048-623: The George Cross for bravery. The RUC was superseded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in 2001, as mandated by the final version of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 . Allegations regarding collusion prompted several inquiries, the most recent of which was authored by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in 2007. The report identified police, CID and Special Branch collusion with loyalist terrorists, but no member of

6216-657: The Guinness family , the Earl of Iveagh , has three Red Hands on his arms granted as recently as 1891. The Red Hand is present in the arms of a number of Ulster's counties, such as Antrim , Cavan , Londonderry , Monaghan and Tyrone . It also appears in the Ulster Banner , and is used by many other official and non-official organisations throughout the province. The arms of the Irish Society that carried out

6384-677: The Inca Empire , officials called curaca enforced the law among the households they were assigned to oversee, with inspectors known as tokoyrikoq ( lit.   ' he who sees all ' ) also stationed throughout the provinces to keep order. In medieval Spain , Santas Hermandades , or 'holy brotherhoods', peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in Castile . As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in

6552-892: The McMahon killings on 26 March 1922, in which six Catholics were killed; and the Arnon Street killings several days later on 1 April 1922, in which six more Catholics were shot dead in retaliation for the IRA killing of a policeman. By the mid-1920s the situation had calmed down; for the next forty-five years the murder rate in Northern Ireland would be lower than in the rest of the UK and the crime detection rate higher. The 1920s and 1930s were years of economic austerity . Many of Northern Ireland's traditional industries, notably linen and shipbuilding, were in recession , which contributed to

6720-479: The Metropolitan Police . Post-war policies brought about a gradual improvement in the lot of the RUC, interrupted only by a return to hostilities by the IRA border campaign from 1957 to 1962, in which seven RUC officers were killed. The force was streamlined in the 1960s, a new headquarters was opened at Knock, Belfast and a number of rural barracks were closed. The civil rights protests during

6888-691: The Nile River , and guarding administrative buildings. By the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, an elite desert-ranger police force called the Medjay was used to protect valuable areas, especially areas of pharaonic interest like capital cities, royal cemeteries, and the borders of Egypt. Though they are best known for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and

Royal Ulster Constabulary - Misplaced Pages Continue

7056-498: The Plantation of Ulster feature the Red Hand. The Red Hand sees use by both nationalists and loyalists, although is more closely associated with the latter, whose murals often centre the symbol as a focal point. A left ( sinister ) Red Hand is an option for baronets to add to their arms to indicate their rank. The College of Arms formally allowed this in 1835, ruling that the baronets of England, Ireland, Great Britain or

7224-625: The Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign . This campaign involved the targeting of police officers, and continued until the final ceasefire in 1997, as the peace process gained momentum. The last RUC officer killed, Constable Francis O'Reilly (a Catholic), was also killed by loyalists, in a September 1998 bombing during the Drumcree conflict . In March 1972, the Government of Northern Ireland resigned and

7392-500: The Republic of Ireland , which remained neutral during the war, was one important consideration; smuggling greatly increased due to rationing , to the point where police virtually became revenue officers; and many wartime regulations had to be enforced, including " black-out " requirements on house and vehicle lights, the arrest of striking workers, port security, and restrictions on the movement of vehicles and use of petrol. The RUC

7560-563: The River Thames to establish a police force at the docks to prevent rampant theft that was causing annual estimated losses of £500,000 worth of cargo in imports alone. The idea of a police, as it then existed in France , was considered as a potentially undesirable foreign import. In building the case for the police in the face of England's firm anti-police sentiment, Colquhoun framed the political rationale on economic indicators to show that

7728-477: The Scythian Archers (the ῥαβδοῦχοι 'rod-bearers'), a group of about 300 Scythian slaves, was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control , and also assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. Athenian police forces were supervised by

7896-544: The Thames River Police together with new laws including police powers; now the oldest police force in the world. Colquhoun published a book on the experiment, The Commerce and Policing of the River Thames . It found receptive audiences far outside London, and inspired similar forces in other cities, notably, New York City , Dublin , and Sydney . Colquhoun's utilitarian approach to the problem – using

8064-695: The War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient Holy Brotherhood as a national police force. They adapted an existing brotherhood to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves, and endowed with great powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original brotherhoods continued to serve as modest local police-units until their final suppression in 1835. The Vehmic courts of Germany provided some policing in

8232-451: The enforcement of authoritarian rule . A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, constabulary , gendarmerie , crime prevention , protective services, law enforcement agency , civil guard, or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers , troopers , sheriffs , constables , rangers , peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using

8400-661: The kings of Ulster , whilst the Magennises were the ruling dynasty of the Uí Eachach Cobo , the chief dynasty of the Cruthin of Ulaid, and also head of the Clanna Rudraige . A 16th-century poem noted disagreement between the " Síol Rúraí " (an alias for Clanna Rudraige) and the Northern Uí Néill. A dispute, dated to 1689, arose between several Irish poets about whose claim to the Red Hand

8568-415: The military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes. Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with

SECTION 50

#1732772877943

8736-481: The safety , health , and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder . Their lawful powers encompass arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence . The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from

8904-495: The Ó Fearghail sept bearing the motto Lámh dhearg air chlogad lúptha . In some Central European armorials of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Galicia is represented by a coat of arms with a red hand or a red glove. It may be due to the phonetic similarity between Gaelic and Galician (' canting arms ' used to do this deliberately or by confusion, such as Galice - Calice or D' Aragón - Dragón ), or by

9072-591: The " continental model" of the police force that had been developed in France, where the police force worked within the parameters of the absolutist state as an extension of the authority of the monarch and functioned as part of the governing state. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police were issued with the distinctive custodian helmet , and in 1884 they switched to the use of whistles that could be heard from much further away. The Metropolitan Police became

9240-455: The 1960s, and the reaction to them, marked the beginning of the conflict that became known as " the Troubles ". The RUC found itself confronting marchers protesting against gerrymandering of local electoral wards and discrimination in local housing allocation. Many of these Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association protests were banned or truncated by the government of Northern Ireland . The Ulster Special Constabulary were controversial, with

9408-410: The 224 premises inherited from the RIC was underway. In May 1937 a new white glass lamp with the RUC crest went up for the first time to replace the RIC crest still on many stations. About the same time the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Belfast was significantly expanded, with a detective head constable being appointed to head the CID force in each of the five Belfast police districts. There

9576-423: The Bow Street office. Under John Fielding, the institution of the Bow Street Runners gained more and more recognition from the government, although the force was only funded intermittently in the years that followed. In 1763, the Bow Street Horse Patrol was established to combat highway robbery, funded by a government grant. The Bow Street Runners served as the guiding principle for the way that policing developed over

9744-420: The British Army, who they saw as treating Protestants differently, especially after the Falls Curfew . The high level of civil unrest led to an exhaustive inquiry into the disturbances in Northern Ireland carried out by Lord Scarman , which produced a report in 1972. James Callaghan , Home Secretary in 1969, called on Brigadier John Hunt (Lord Hunt) to assess, advise and report on the policing situation. He

9912-665: The Caliphate of Uthman . The Shurta is known to have existed in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates . Their primary roles were to act as police and internal security forces but they could also be used for other duties such as customs and tax enforcement, rubbish collection, and acting as bodyguards for governors. From the 10th century, the importance of the Shurta declined as the army assumed internal security tasks while cities became more autonomous and handled their own policing needs locally, such as by hiring watchmen. In addition, officials called muhtasibs were responsible for supervising bazaars and economic activity in general in

10080-542: The Cross in the Street of Kells . The former two have the full hand with fingers extended similar to the Red Hand. The form and position of the Kells Dextera Dei is of a pattern usually found on the Continent, whereas that used at Monasterboice and Clonmacnoise appears to unique within Christendom. Bigger suggested the mention of the Dextera Dei in Psalm 118 and Acts 2 represented the old-world figurative expression signifying strength and power, and such hand symbols can be found in ancient civilisations including amongst others

10248-405: The Flahertys, Dalys, Melaghlins and Kearneys. On the O'Neill and Donnelly coat of arms the motto is Lámh Dhearg Éireann (Red Hand of Ireland). The arms of the chiefs of the Scottish Clan MacNeil (of Barra ) contain the Red Hand; the clan has traditionally claimed descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages . Many other families have used the Red Hand to highlight an Ulster ancestry. The head of

SECTION 60

#1732772877943

10416-421: The French one as a threat to the people's liberty and balanced constitution in favor of an arbitrary and tyrannical government. Law enforcement was mostly up to the private citizens, who had the right and duty to prosecute crimes in which they were involved or in which they were not. At the cry of 'murder!' or 'stop thief!' everyone was entitled and obliged to join the pursuit. Once the criminal had been apprehended,

10584-458: The Irish College of Compostela after the Flight of the Earls ) the "true capital of the Irish people in exile". The form in common use is an open right ( dexter ) hand coloured red, with the fingers pointing upwards, the thumb held parallel to the fingers, and the palm facing forward. The Red Hand features in other Irish clan coats of arms including the O'Donnellys , O'Cahans , the McHughs of County Galway and their fellow Connacht kinsmen

10752-410: The Irish Constabulary Act of 1822 marked the beginning of the Royal Irish Constabulary . The Act established a force in each barony with chief constables and inspectors general under the control of the civil administration at Dublin Castle . By 1841 this force numbered over 8,600 men. In 1797, Patrick Colquhoun was able to persuade the West Indies merchants who operated at the Pool of London on

10920-446: The Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both the national police force and its members. The word police is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries. Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymologies. One of the oldest, cop , has largely lost its slang connotations and become

11088-466: The King's bailiffs were responsible for law and order until the establishment of counties in the 1630s. Up to the early 18th century, the level of state involvement in law enforcement in Britain was low. Although some law enforcement officials existed in the form of constables and watchmen, there was no organized police force. A professional police force like the one already present in France would have been ill-suited to Britain, which saw examples such as

11256-436: The Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War , and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the Constabulary ( Old French : Connétablie ), was under the command of the Constable of France . The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under Francis I (reigned 1515–1547), the Maréchaussée was merged with the constabulary. The resulting force

11424-422: The Norman conquest was a private system of tithings known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under Alfred the Great . Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over

11592-414: The Northern Ireland government was set up, who had already been given uniforms and training. The RUC's senior officer, the Inspector General, was appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland and was responsible to the Minister of Home Affairs in the Northern Ireland government for the maintenance of law and order. The polarised political climate in Northern Ireland resulted in violence from both sides of

11760-402: The O'Neill clan says of the Red Hand: "History teaches us that already in pagan days it was adopted by the O'Neills from the Macgennis, who were princes in the north of Ireland region inhabited by them". Those involved in the bardic dispute of 1689 claimed that the Red Hand symbol came from a legendary ancestor who put his bloodstained hand on a banner after victory in battle: F.J. Bigger in

11928-419: The Old Kingdom collapsed, ushering in the First Intermediate Period , it is thought that the same model applied. During this period, Bedouins were hired to guard the borders and protect trade caravans. During the Middle Kingdom period, a professional police force was created with a specific focus on enforcing the law, as opposed to the previous informal arrangement of using warriors as police. The police force

12096-592: The Order, thirty-nine RUC officers are listed on the Order's Roll of Honour (of 'Orangemen' killed in the conflict). The size of the RUC was increased on several occasions. At its height, there were 8,500 regular police officers supported by about 5,000 full-time and part-time reserve officers, making it the second largest force in the United Kingdom after the Metropolitan Police in London. The direction and control of

12264-593: The Paris police force was extended to the rest of France by a royal edict of October 1699, resulting in the creation of lieutenants general of police in all large French cities and towns. After the French Revolution , Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants on February 17, 1800, as the Prefecture of Police . On March 12, 1829, a government decree created

12432-416: The RUC has been charged or convicted of any criminal acts as a result of these inquiries. O'Loan stated in her conclusions that there was no reason to believe the findings of the investigation were isolated incidents. Under section 60 of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , Northern Ireland was placed under the jurisdiction of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). On 31 January 1921, Richard Dawson Bates ,

12600-522: The RUC was awarded the George Cross for bravery, a rare honour which had been awarded collectively only once before, to the island nation of Malta . The Award stated: For the past 30 years, the Royal Ulster Constabulary has been the bulwark against, and the main target of, a sustained and brutal terrorism campaign. The Force has suffered heavily in protecting both sides of the community from danger – 302 officers have been killed in

12768-573: The RUC was in the hands in the Chief Constable, who was assisted by two Deputy Chief Constables and nine Assistant Chief Constables. For operational purposes, Northern Ireland was divided into twelve Divisions and thirty-nine Sub-Divisions. RUC ranks, duties, conditions of service and pay were generally in line with those of police forces in Great Britain. Policing Northern Ireland 's divided society proved to be difficult, as each of

12936-473: The RUC. Seamus Mallon , Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) and critic of the force, who later served as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland , stated that the RUC was "97% Protestant and 100% unionist" . The RUC did attract some Roman Catholics , mostly former members of the RIC, who came north from the Irish Free State after the bitterness of the fighting during

13104-483: The RUC. In April 1923 he spoke at its first reunion. In 1924 John William Nixon , a District Inspector suspected of involvement in the murder of Catholic civilians, would be dismissed after widespread complaints that he had made a "fiercely Unionist" speech at an Orange Order function. An inquiry by the British National Council for Civil Liberties in 1936 concluded that: [I]t is difficult to escape

13272-561: The RUC. This led to accusations of a shoot-to-kill policy by the RUC. In September 1983, four officers were charged with murder in connection with the deaths. Although all were subsequently found not guilty, the British government set up the Stalker Inquiry to investigate further. In May 1986, Sir John Hermon , then Chief Constable , publicly accused unionist politicians of "consorting with paramilitary elements" . Anger over

13440-499: The Royal Ulster Constabulary and who have accepted the danger and stress this has brought to them and to their families. The chief officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary was its Inspector-General (the last of whom, Sir Thomas J. Smith served from 11 March 1920 until partition in 1922). Between 1922 and 1969 the position of Inspector-General of the RUC was held by five officers, the last being Sir Arthur Young, who

13608-472: The United Kingdom may "bear either a canton in their coat of arms, or in an escutcheon, at their pleasure, the arms of Ulster (to wit) a Hand Gules or a Bloody Hand in a Field Argent." It is blazoned as follows: A hand sinister couped at the wrist extended in pale gules . King James I of England established the hereditary Order of Baronets in England on 22 May 1611, in the words of Collins (1741): "for

13776-665: The United Kingdom was the appointment of Commissioners of Police for Scotland in 1714 and the creation of the Marine Police in 1798. Following early police forces established in 1779 and 1788 in Glasgow , Scotland , the Glasgow authorities successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police in 1800. Other Scottish towns soon followed suit and set up their own police forces through acts of parliament. In Ireland ,

13944-449: The absence of strong state institutions. Such courts had a chairman who presided over a session and lay judges who passed judgement and carried out law enforcement tasks. Among the responsibilities that lay judges had were giving formal warnings to known troublemakers, issuing warrants, and carrying out executions. In the medieval Islamic Caliphates , police were known as Shurta . Bodies termed Shurta existed perhaps as early as

14112-549: The already high level of unemployment. Serious rioting broke out in 1932 in Belfast in protest at inadequate relief for the unemployed. In response to the growth of motorised transport, the RUC Traffic Branch was formed on 1 January 1930. In 1936 the police depot at Enniskillen was formally opened and an £800,000 scheme to create a network of 196 police barracks throughout Northern Ireland by rationalizing or repairing

14280-547: The ancient character and widespread usage of the symbol amongst early pagan civilisations. According to Charles Vallancey in 1788, a red hand pointing upwards was the armorial symbol of the kings of Ireland, and that it was still in use by the O'Brien family, whose motto was Lamh laidir an uachdar , meaning "the strong hand up" or "the strong hand will prevail". Hands feature prominently in Dermot O'Connor's 18th-century publication "Blazons and Irish Heraldic Terminology", with

14448-439: The army played a major role in providing security. Roman soldiers detached from their legions and posted among civilians carried out law enforcement tasks. The Praetorian Guard , an elite army unit which was primarily an Imperial bodyguard and intelligence-gathering unit, could also act as a riot police force if required. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Lictors , civil servants whose primary duty

14616-569: The assimilation of the Galician people with the Milesians (people of Breogán ). The most common heraldic shield in Galicia, as an autonomous region or as a kingdom, is a grail with crosses or shamrocks from the 13th century to the present day. In the 17th century St. James of Compostella ( Santiago de Compostela ) became, according to the bishop Thomas Strong (uncle of Thomas White, founder of

14784-430: The authority of the magistrates, travelling nationwide to apprehend criminals. Fielding wanted to regulate and legalize law enforcement activities due to the high rate of corruption and mistaken or malicious arrests seen with the system that depended mainly on private citizens and state rewards for law enforcement. Henry Fielding's work was carried on by his brother, Justice John Fielding , who succeeded him as magistrate in

14952-428: The beginning the RUC had a dual role, unique among British police forces, of providing a normal law enforcement service while enforcing the new Northern Ireland entity in the face of considerable opposition, both armed and unarmed. To this end, its members were armed, as the RIC had been. The RUC was limited by statute to a 3,000-strong force. Initially, a third of positions within the force were reserved for Catholics ,

15120-464: The bloody Red Hand, a terrible cognizance! And in allusion to that terrible cognizance—the battle cry of Lamh dearg abu!" The Order of Baronets was instituted by letters patent dated 10 May 1612, which state that "the Baronets and their descendants shall and may bear, either in a canton in their coat of arms, or in an inescutcheon , at their election, the arms of Ulster, that is, in a field argent,

15288-640: The byname "red hand" or "red-handed" ( lámhdhearg or crobhdhearg ). It signified that they were great warriors, their hands being red with the blood of their enemies. The Dextera Dei , or "Right Hand of God", is a symbol that appears on only three high crosses in Ireland: the Cross of Muiredach at Monasterboice ; the Cross of King Flann (also known as the Cross of the Scriptures) at Clonmacnoise ; and

15456-437: The capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created; the wards were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men called vigiles , who acted as night watchmen and firemen. In addition to firefighting, their duties included apprehending petty criminals, capturing runaway slaves, guarding the baths at night, and stopping disturbances of the peace. As well as the city of Rome, vigiles were also stationed in

15624-402: The cities, each ward was under the command of a Superintendent of Police, known as a Kuipan . Police officers also acted as prosecutors and carried out punishments imposed by the courts. They were required to know the court procedure for prosecuting cases and advancing accusations. In ancient Israel and Judah , officials with the responsibility of making declarations to the people, guarding

15792-659: The city of Paris , then the largest city in Europe. The royal edict, registered by the Parlement of Paris on March 15, 1667, created the office of lieutenant général de police ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined the task of the police as "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties". This office

15960-571: The conclusion that the attitude of the government renders the police chary of interference with the activities of the Orange Order and its sympathisers. On 4 April 1922, the RIC was disbanded. Three days later, the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 came into force, and the Belfast government, although prohibited from raising or controlling a military force, appointed Major General Frederick Solly-Flood as

16128-544: The crown, harp, and shamrock, an attempt at representation of the major ideologies. The Special Patrol Group was formed in the late 1960s as the Police Reserve Force. The name was changed to avoid confusion with the newly formed part-time Police Reserve in 1970, and was renamed " Divisional Mobile Support Unit " in 1980 after two of its members were convicted of kidnap and murder. The two, John Weir and Billy McCaughey , implicated some of their colleagues in

16296-596: The dead were killed during the Troubles (1969 to 1998), of whom 277 were killed in attacks by Irish republicans . According to the CAIN project at the University of Ulster , however, 301 RUC officers and 18 former or retired RUC officers were killed, totaling 319 fatalities. The Newry mortar attack by the Provisional IRA on an RUC station in 1985, which killed nine officers (including two Catholics), resulted in

16464-403: The emperor, and they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could also be women. Local citizens could report minor judicial offenses against them such as robberies at

16632-417: The fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a reeve . Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as shires , the rough equivalent of

16800-540: The fingers, and the palm facing forward. It is usually shown as a right hand, but is sometimes a left hand, such as in the coats of arms of baronets . The Red Hand is rooted in Gaelic culture as the sign of a great warrior. It is believed to date back to pagan times. The Red Hand is first documented in surviving records in the 13th century, where it was used by the Hiberno-Norman de Burgh earls of Ulster . It

16968-442: The first Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland , appointed a committee of inquiry on police organisation in the region. It was asked to advise on any alterations to the existing police necessary for the formation of a new force (i.e. recruitment and conditions of service, composition, strength and cost). An interim report was published on 28 March 1922, the first official report of the new Parliament of Northern Ireland , and

17136-548: The first man to lay his hand on the province of Ulster would have claim to it. As a result, the warriors rushed towards land with one chopping off his hand and throwing it over his comrades and thus winning the land. In some versions of the tale, the person who cuts off his hand belongs to the O'Neills, or is Niall of the Nine Hostages himself. In other versions, the person is the mythical Érimón . In medieval Irish literature, several real and legendary kings were given

17304-683: The first uniformed police in France , known as sergents de ville ('city sergeants'), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were the first uniformed policemen in the world. In feudal Japan, samurai warriors were charged with enforcing the law among commoners. Some Samurai acted as magistrates called Machi-bugyō , who acted as judges, prosecutors, and as chief of police. Beneath them were other Samurai serving as yoriki , or assistant magistrates, who conducted criminal investigations, and beneath them were Samurai serving as dōshin , who were responsible for patrolling

17472-534: The force abandoned this policy. As a result, representation of Catholics in the RUC never exceeded 20%. In addition, many Catholics who joined the force, particularly during the Troubles, were targeted for murder or ostracised by their own community. By the 1960s, representation of Catholics in the RUC had fallen to 12%. The RUC were supported by the Ulster Special Constabulary , a volunteer body of part-time auxiliary police established before

17640-603: The game". The force was part funded by the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants . The force was a success after its first year, and his men had "established their worth by saving £122,000 worth of cargo and by the rescuing of several lives". Word of this success spread quickly, and the government passed the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800 on 28 July 1800, establishing a fully funded police force

17808-711: The harbor cities of Ostia and Portus . Augustus also formed the Urban Cohorts to deal with gangs and civil disturbances in the city of Rome, and as a counterbalance to the Praetorian Guard's enormous power in the city. They were led by the urban prefect . Urban Cohort units were later formed in Roman Carthage and Lugdunum . Law enforcement systems existed in the various kingdoms and empires of ancient India . The Apastamba Dharmasutra prescribes that kings should appoint officers and subordinates in

17976-601: The highest number of deaths inflicted on the RUC in one incident. The two highest-ranking RUC officers to be killed during "the Troubles" were Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan , who were ambushed by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade outside Jonesborough, County Armagh, on 20 March 1989. On 4 December 2013, in a report by judge Peter Smithwick in the Smithwick Tribunal (a public inquiry), it

18144-515: The killings in which collusion was alleged; that of Brian Adam Lambert in 1987 and of Pat Finucane in 1989. Stevens used the following criteria as a definition of collusion while conducting his investigation: On 12 December 2012 the British Prime minister David Cameron admitted a statement to the House of Commons that "shocking levels of collusion occurred in the murder of Finucane." In

18312-492: The king's person, supervising public works, and executing the orders of the courts existed in the urban areas. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible , and this system lasted into the period of Roman rule. The first century Jewish historian Josephus related that every judge had two such officers under his command. Levites were preferred for this role. Cities and towns also had night watchmen. Besides officers of

18480-404: The line of duty and thousands more injured, many seriously. Many officers have been ostracised by their own community and others have been forced to leave their homes in the face of threats to them and their families. As Northern Ireland reaches a turning point in its political development this award is made to recognise the collective courage and dedication to duty of all of those who have served in

18648-512: The main religious blocs (Protestant and Roman Catholic) had different attitudes towards the institutions of the state. To most Ulster Protestants , the state had full legitimacy, as did its institutions, its parliament, its police force and the Crown. Many of Northern Ireland's Catholics, along with their political leaders, believed that partition would only be temporary. Many abstained from and/or refused to take part Northern Ireland's institutions for

18816-476: The maintenance of social order, for the protection of people from crime and to act as a visible deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Peel decided to standardise the police force as an official paid profession, to organise it in a civilian fashion, and to make it answerable to the public. Due to public fears concerning the deployment of the military in domestic matters, Peel organised the force along civilian lines, rather than paramilitary . To appear neutral,

18984-638: The medieval Islamic world. In France during the Middle Ages , there were two Great Officers of the Crown of France with police responsibilities: The Marshal of France and the Grand Constable of France . The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from

19152-406: The most professional police forces in the world by British security forces. During the Troubles, 319 RUC officers were killed and almost 9,000 injured in paramilitary assassinations or attacks, mostly by the IRA, which made the RUC the most dangerous police force in the world in which to serve by 1983. In the same period, the RUC killed 55 people, 28 of whom were civilians. In 2000, the RUC was awarded

19320-541: The next 80 years. Bow Street was a manifestation of the move towards increasing professionalisation and state control of street life, beginning in London. The Macdaniel affair , a 1754 British political scandal in which a group of thief-takers was found to be falsely prosecuting innocent men in order to collect reward money from bounties , added further impetus for a publicly salaried police force that did not depend on rewards. Nonetheless, In 1828, there were privately financed police units in no fewer than 45 parishes within

19488-637: The nobility enforced law in the countryside according to the will of their leaders. The Songhai Empire had officials known as assara-munidios , or "enforcers", acting as police. Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas also had organized law enforcement. The city-states of the Maya civilization had constables known as tupils . In the Aztec Empire , judges had officers serving under them who were empowered to perform arrests, even of dignitaries. In

19656-425: The number of private thief-takers. Thief-takers became infamously known not so much for what they were supposed to do, catching real criminals and prosecuting them, as for "setting themselves up as intermediaries between victims and their attackers, extracting payments for the return of stolen goods and using the threat of prosecution to keep offenders in thrall". Some of them, such as Jonathan Wild , became infamous at

19824-444: The office of justice of the peace was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables. There was also a system of investigative " juries ". The Assize of Arms of 1252 , which required the appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell breaches of the peace , and to deliver offenders to the sheriff or reeve, is cited as one of the earliest antecedents of the English police. The Statute of Winchester of 1285

19992-534: The open right hand can be seen in the seal of Aodh Reamhar Ó Néill , king of the Irish of Ulster, 1344–1364. An early-15th-century poem by Mael Ó hÚigínn is named Lámh dhearg Éireann í Eachach , the first line of which is a variation of the title: " Lamh dhearg Éiriond Ibh Eathoch " , translated as "The Úí Eachach are the 'red hand' of Ireland". The Uí Eachach were one of the Cruthin tribes (known as

20160-411: The other police forces in the UK. This meant the introduction of the British rank and promotion structure , the creation of 12 Police Divisions and 39 Sub-Divisions, the disbandment of the Ulster Special Constabulary, and the creation of a Police Authority designed to be representative of all segments of the community. Callaghan, later elected Prime Minister, asked Sir Arthur Young , Commissioner of

20328-468: The parish constables and night watchmen, who were the only public figures provided by the state and who were typically part-time and local, would make the arrest. As a result, the state set a reward to encourage citizens to arrest and prosecute offenders. The first of such rewards was established in 1692 of the amount of £40 for the conviction of a highwayman and in the following years it was extended to burglars, coiners and other forms of offense. The reward

20496-476: The parliament was prorogued . Northern Ireland subsequently came under direct rule from Westminster with its own Secretary of State , who had overall responsibility for security policy. From the mid-1970s onward, the British policy of Ulsterisation meant RUC officers taking a more prominent role in the conflict than previously, which increased their casualty rate. Starting in late 1982, a number of IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) men were shot dead by

20664-466: The pilgrims against robber knights. Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, and were occasionally extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo , Talavera , and Villarreal . As one of their first acts after end of

20832-478: The plantation and protection of the whole Kingdom of Ireland, but more especially for the defence and security of the Province of Ulster, and therefore for their distinction those of this order and their descendants may bear (the Red Hand of Ulster) in their coats of arms either in a canton or an escutcheon at their election". Such baronets may also display the Red Hand of Ulster on its own as a badge , suspended by

21000-437: The police efforts were practically nullified. They were quite unable to rely on the restraint of one party while they dealt with the other. About ninety police officers were killed between 1920 and 1922 in what would become Northern Ireland (see The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922) ). The security forces were implicated in reprisal killings of Catholics but no convictions ever rendered. Most notable of these incidents were

21168-436: The police or the civil service. This mindset was referenced by David Trimble : Ulster Unionists, fearful of being isolated on the island, built a solid house, but it was a cold house for Catholics. And northern nationalists, although they had a roof over their heads, seemed to us as if they meant to burn the house down In August 1922, Dawson Bates gave the Orange Order special permission for an Orange Lodge to be formed in

21336-456: The political and sectarian divide. The lawlessness that affected the region during the early 1920s, and the problems it caused for the RUC, are indicated in a police report drawn up by District Inspector R.R. Spears in February 1923. Referring to the situation in Belfast after July 1921 he stated: For twelve months after that, the city was in a state of turmoil. The IRA ( Irish Republican Army )

21504-412: The preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property . Police forces have become ubiquitous and a necessity in complex modern societies. However, their role can sometimes be controversial, as they may be involved to varying degrees in corruption , brutality , and

21672-573: The same as that of the RIC – a dark green, as opposed to the dark blue worn by the other British police forces and the Garda Síochána . A new badge of the Red Hand of Ulster on a St George's Cross surrounded by a chain was designed but proved unpopular and was never uniformly adopted. Eventually the harp and crown insignia of the Order of St Patrick , as worn by the RIC, was adopted. From

21840-472: The same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his parish every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, watchmen were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually

22008-420: The so-called Peelian principles , which set down basic guidelines for ethical policing: The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 created a modern police force by limiting the purview of the force and its powers and envisioning it as merely an organ of the judicial system. Their job was apolitical; to maintain the peace and apprehend criminals for the courts to process according to the law. This was very different from

22176-579: The stolen property. They were private individuals usually hired by crime victims. The earliest English use of the word police seems to have been the term Polles mentioned in the book The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England published in 1642. The first example of a statutory police force in the world was probably the High Constables of Edinburgh , formed in 1611 to police

22344-646: The street hitting, kicking and insulting them. Police officers in interrogation centres insult, trick and threaten youngsters and sometimes physically assault them. Children are locked up in adult detention centres and prisons in shameful conditions. Helsinki Watch heard dozens of stories from children, their parents, lawyers, youth workers and political leaders of children being stopped on the street and hit, kicked and abused again and again by police and soldiers. And seventeen-year-olds told Human Rights Watch Helsinki of severe beatings in detention during interrogations by police. The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of 1998 produced

22512-510: The streets of Edinburgh , then part of the Kingdom of Scotland . The constables, of whom half were merchants and half were craftsmen, were charged with enforcing 16 regulations relating to curfews, weapons, and theft. At that time, maintenance of public order in Scotland was mainly done by clan chiefs and feudal lords. The first centrally organised and uniformed police force was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police

22680-619: The streets, keeping the peace, and making arrests when necessary. The yoriki were responsible for managing the dōshin . Yoriki and dōshin were typically drawn from low-ranking samurai families. Assisting the dōshin were the komono , non-Samurai chōnin who went on patrol with them and provided assistance, the okappiki , non-Samurai from the lowest outcast class, often former criminals, who worked for them as informers and spies, and gōyokiki or meakashi , chōnin, often former criminals, who were hired by local residents and merchants to work as police assistants in

22848-479: The surrounding areas, the Medjay were used throughout Upper and Lower Egypt . Each regional unit had its own captain. The police forces of ancient Egypt did not guard rural communities, which often took care of their own judicial problems by appealing to village elders, but many of them had a constable to enforce state laws. In ancient Greece , publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens ,

23016-496: The time for staging robberies in order to receive the reward. In 1737, George II began paying some London and Middlesex watchmen with tax monies, beginning the shift to government control. In 1749, Judge Henry Fielding began organizing a force of quasi-professional constables known as the Bow Street Runners . The Bow Street Runners are considered to have been Britain's first dedicated police force. They represented

23184-476: The town treasury. The Talmud also mentions city watchmen and mounted and armed watchmen in the suburbs. In many regions of pre-colonial Africa , particularly West and Central Africa, guild-like secret societies emerged as law enforcement. In the absence of a court system or written legal code, they carried out police-like activities, employing varying degrees of coercion to enforce conformity and deter antisocial behavior. In ancient Ethiopia , armed retainers of

23352-612: The town, there were officers for every tribe. The temple in Jerusalem had special temple police to guard it. The Talmud mentions various local police officials in the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel and Babylon who supervised economic activity. Their Greek-sounding titles suggest that the roles were introduced under Hellenic influence. Most of these officials received their authority from local courts and their salaries were drawn from

23520-480: The towns and villages to protect their subjects from crime. Various inscriptions and literature from ancient India suggest that a variety of roles existed for law enforcement officials such as those of a constable, thief catcher, watchman, and detective. In ancient India up to medieval and early modern times, kotwals were in charge of local law enforcement. The Achaemenid Empire had well-organized police forces. A police force existed in every place of importance. In

23688-418: The turn of the 21st century and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised . Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles , travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily fortified police stations. It

23856-507: The twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, and against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown. These organizations were intended to be temporary, but became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia , and protect

24024-443: The uniform was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being armed only with a wooden truncheon and a rattle to signal the need for assistance. Along with this, police ranks did not include military titles, with the exception of Sergeant . To distance the new police force from the initial public view of it as a new tool of government repression, Peel publicised

24192-546: The unit seen by some nationalists as more anti-Catholic and anti-nationalist than the RUC, which, unlike the B Specials, did attract some Catholic recruits. The severe pressure on the RUC and the perceived partiality of the B-Specials led, during the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 , to the British Army being called in to support the civil administration under Operation Banner . Catholics largely turned away from

24360-535: Was Walter de Burgh who became first Earl of Ulster in 1243 who combined the de Burgh cross with the Red Hand to create a flag that represented the Earldom of Ulster and later became the modern Flag of Ulster . It was afterwards adopted by the O'Neills when they assumed the ancient kingship of Ulster, inventing the title Rex Ultonie (king of Ulster) for themselves in 1317 and then claiming it unopposed from 1345 onwards. An early Irish heraldic use in Ireland of

24528-409: Was established by virtue of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 for the purpose of "marking the sacrifice and honouring the achievements of the Royal Ulster Constabulary". Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring

24696-673: Was Director of Public Safety and Director of Security in the military government of Allied-occupied Italy. Later, he had been seconded to the Federation of Malaya at the height of the Malayan Emergency (1952–53) and to the crown colony of Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion (1954). The first deaths of the Troubles occurred in July 1969. Francis McCloskey, a 67-year-old Catholic civilian, had been found unconscious on 13 July near

24864-495: Was a "reserved occupation", i.e. the police force was deemed essential to the domestic war effort and its members were forbidden to leave to join the other services. The wartime situation gave a new urgency to discussions regarding the appointment of women police. The Ministry of Home Affairs finally gave approval to the enrolment of women as members of the RUC on 16 April 1943, with the first six recruits starting on 15 November, headed by Marion Paterson Macmillan , who transferred from

25032-540: Was alleged that members of the Republic's police force (Garda Síochána) had colluded in the killing of the two policemen. The last RUC officer killed as a direct result of the conflict, Francis O'Reilly (a Catholic constable), died on 6 October 1998, a month after he had been injured in a Red Hand Defenders pipe-bomb attack in Portadown during the Drumcree conflict . On 1 July 1992, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued

25200-646: Was also known as the Maréchaussée , or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France. In late medieval Italian cities, police forces were known as berovierri . Individually, their members were known as birri . Subordinate to the city's podestà , the berovierri were responsible for guarding the cities and their suburbs, patrolling, and the pursuit and arrest of criminals. They were typically hired on short-term contracts, usually six months. Detailed records from medieval Bologna show that birri had

25368-410: Was assisted in this task by Sir Robert Mark , who later became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service , and Sir James Robertson, then- Chief Constable of Glasgow . The Hunt Report was published on 3 October 1969, and most of its recommendations were subsequently accepted and implemented. The aim was to completely reorganise the RUC, both modernizing the force and bringing it into line with

25536-404: Was first held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie , who had 44 commissaires de police ('police commissioners') under his authority. In 1709, these commissioners were assisted by inspecteurs de police ('police inspectors'). The city of Paris was divided into 16 districts policed by the commissaires , each assigned to a particular district and assisted by a growing bureaucracy. The scheme of

25704-670: Was further reformed during the New Kingdom period. Police officers served as interrogators, prosecutors, and court bailiffs, and were responsible for administering punishments handed down by judges. In addition, there were special units of police officers trained as priests who were responsible for guarding temples and tombs and preventing inappropriate behavior at festivals or improper observation of religious rites during services. Other police units were tasked with guarding caravans, guarding border crossings, protecting royal necropolises , guarding slaves at work or during transport, patrolling

25872-443: Was organized, uniformed and armed like a military unit and was responsible for interventions against various crimes and the arrest of suspected criminals. These guards were assisted by the military, fire patrolmen, and a civilian unit that did not wear a uniform, but instead wore a small badge around the neck. The civilian unit monitored compliance with city ordinances relating to e.g. sanitation issues, traffic and taxes. In rural areas,

26040-534: Was published in September 1999. It recommended a wholesale reorganisation of policing, with the Royal Ulster Constabulary being replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and a drive to recruit Catholics and the adoption of a new crest and cap badge. The PSNI was introduced in November 2001. As part of the change, the police service dropped the word "Royal" from and adopted a new badge that included

26208-478: Was replaced by the Sydney Foot Police in 1790. In New South Wales , rural law enforcement officials were appointed by local justices of the peace during the early to mid-19th century and were referred to as "bench police" or "benchers". A mounted police force was formed in 1825. Red Hand of Ulster It is an open hand coloured red, with the fingers pointing upwards, the thumb held parallel to

26376-424: Was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying

26544-469: Was responsible for an enormous number of murders, bombings, shootings and incendiary fires. The work of the police against them was, however, greatly hampered by the fact that the rough element on the Protestant side entered thoroughly into the disturbances, met murder with murder and adopted in many respects the tactics of the rebel gunmen. In the endeavour to cope simultaneously with the warring factions

26712-769: Was responsible for investigating petty crimes and carrying out arrests. In ancient Egypt evidence of law enforcement exists as far back as the Old Kingdom period . There are records of an office known as "Judge Commandant of the Police" dating to the fourth dynasty . During the fifth dynasty at the end of the Old Kingdom period, warriors armed with wooden sticks were tasked with guarding public places such as markets, temples, and parks, and apprehending criminals. They are known to have made use of trained monkeys, baboons, and dogs in guard duties and catching criminals. After

26880-520: Was seconded for a year from the City of London Police to implement the Hunt Report. Under Young, the title was changed to Chief Constable in line with the recommendations of the Hunt Report. Young and six others held the job until the RUC was incorporated to the PSNI. The final incumbent, Sir Ronnie Flanagan , became the first Chief Constable of the PSNI. The Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation

27048-405: Was shot dead by loyalists on Belfast's Shankill Road during serious rioting in protest at the recommendations of the Hunt Report. Arbuckle was the first police fatality of the Troubles. In August 1970, two young constables, Donaldson and Millar, died when an abandoned car they were examining near the strongly republican town of Crossmaglen exploded. They became the first security forces victims of

27216-415: Was sporadic IRA activity in the 1930s. In 1937, on the occasion of the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the province, the IRA blew up a number of customs posts. In 1939 the IRA launched its Sabotage Campaign in England, which would end a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War . The war brought additional responsibilities for the police: the security of the land border with

27384-417: Was subsequently accepted by the Northern Ireland Government. On 29 April 1922, King George V granted to the force the name Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In May, the Parliament of Northern Ireland passed the Constabulary Act 1922, and the RUC officially came into existence on 1 June. The headquarters of the force was established at Atlantic Buildings, Waring Street, Belfast . The uniform remained essentially

27552-406: Was the first police force to use rubber and plastic bullets for riot control. The RUC's membership was overwhelmingly Protestant , leading to accusations by sections of the Catholic and Irish nationalist minority of one-sided policing and sectarianism . Officers were also accused of police brutality as well as collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. Conversely, it was praised as one of

27720-414: Was the most legitimate. Further poetic quatrains in the dispute were written by Mac an Baird, Ó Donnghaile, as well as by Mac an Bhaird's son Eoghain. The Mac an Bhairds appear to deride Ó Donnghaile as not having come from a hereditary bardic family and that he is of very low rank without honour, as well as hinting at his family's genealogical link to the O'Neills. Writing in 1908, the then head of

27888-427: Was to act as bodyguards to magistrates who held imperium , could carry out arrests and inflict punishments at their magistrate's command. Magistrates such as tresviri capitales , procurators fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus , when

28056-402: Was to be increased in 1720 when, after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the consequent rise of criminal offenses, the government offered £100 for the conviction of a highwayman. Although the offer of such a reward was conceived as an incentive for the victims of an offense to proceed to the prosecution and to bring criminals to justice, the efforts of the government also increased

28224-483: Was to make recommendations which arose from serious shortcomings he had identified in all three Inquiries. In his autobiography, Stevens was at pains to point out the high regard in which he held many RUC officers, including Detective Superintendent Maurice Neilly, who was killed in the 1994 Chinook air crash . The third Stevens Inquiry began in 1999, and referred to his previous reports when making his recommendations. Stevens' third inquiry focused in detail on only two of

#942057