Abstract
Under the government of Ireland Act 1920, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIG) was to be split into two forces under the new devolved authorities in the North and South. The Northern Ireland government and the Minister for Home Affairs took on responsibility for establishing a new force in Northern Ireland. A committee was appointed and in March 1922 it recommended that the new force consist of 3000 policemen, of which one-third was to be Catholic, one third Protestant, recruited from the RIG, and the remaining third drawn from the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). Under the Constabulary Act, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUG) formally came into existence in June 1922. However, the Catholic quota was never filled due to political pressures on the Unionist government, the attitudes of Catholics towards the new state, and relations between Protestants and Catholics within the new police force (Brewer el al. 1988, pp. 48–9).
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© 1991 British Sociological Association
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Magee, K. (1991). The Dual Role of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. In: Reiner, R., Cross, M. (eds) Beyond Law and Order. Explorations in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21282-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21282-8_5
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