A Royal Ulster Constabulary recruitment campaign launched earlier this year
has produced an astonishing 20,000 applications, many from Catholics.
The organisation, which has 90 per cent Protestant officers, was expecting
to attract fewer than 1,000 applicants. It has been going through an extensive
change management programme as part of the peace process.
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Senior officers have been trying to create an environment to attract more
Catholics. The service has made a number of symbolic gestures such as taking
down pictures of the Queen from the walls of offices.
Deputy director of Cranfield School of Management Andrew Kakabadse, who was
a consultant to the RUC project, said, "The RUC is creating an environment
which hopefully will be attractive to all sectors of the community in Northern
Ireland. Such objectives are being achieved by introducing a devolved structure
whereby a lot of central costs are now re-allocated among 29 district
units."
