I first came to Northern Ireland one month after the Patten Commission issued its report on the future of policing. In the intervening period no other subject has demanded more of my attention or caused me as much anguish.
The future of policing distils in a single issue the bitterness and pain generated in Northern Ireland over so many years. I have listened to terrible stories of suffering from bereaved and injured members of the policing families, I have also heard the anxiety of many of the nationalist community and their sense of alienation from the police.
During the consultation period I listened to views from all sides on the merits of the Patten report. But in framing the British government's response, I have tried to step outside the divisions of the past and focus on the future. Indeed, from the outset I have made clear that the Patten recommendations are not a judgment on the past but a foundation for the future.
I have applied a simple test to each one of the proposals put forward by Chris Patten and his colleagues: will it secure a modern, effective police service for Northern Ireland capable of attracting widespread community support?
Today, when the details of the Police Bill are made public at Westminster, it will be clear that I have kept faith both with the broad intentions of the report and with the detailed recommendations. As I told the House of Commons in January, I am convinced that the police themselves will benefit from fundamental changes to their structure, ethos and operations.
At present some 88 per cent of the police service is Protestant. To redress this imbalance we will implement Patten's proposed 50/ 50 recruitment scheme. The critics of this measure, including civil liberties groups who argue that it discriminates in favour of Catholics, have failed to suggest a viable alternative. For the first time, recruitment will be handled by an outside agency.
The size of the police service will eventually be reduced to 7,500 from this November and the Full Time Reserve will be phased out, as the security situation allows.
A new Policing Board, including members of all the political parties involved in the Executive, will have wide powers to hold the Chief Constable to account. They will work with District Policing Partnerships to build co-operation between the police and the public they serve.
An independent Police Ombudsman has already been established to investigate complaints against the police. She will begin her work this summer. The new legislation will require all police officers to register their interests and memberships of organisations, and the Ombudsman will have access to this information.
Human rights will be the cornerstone of the new police service, with training for all officers and a statutory code of ethics setting standards of police conduct. The new Human Rights Act and the ongoing Criminal Justice Review will further cement this approach.
There will be a new research programme into the use of plastic baton rounds. Patten stopped short of banning their use until a viable alternative could be found. I wish to take that process forward.
I will be appointing an internationally respected figure as the new Oversight Commissioner, with responsibility for monitoring these and many other changes. I believe the commissioner will maintain the confidence and trust of the police and the wider community during the transitional period.
Finally, there remains the issue of the name of the new police service. It is a mark of the depth and bitterness of division in Northern Ireland that the fundamental changes outlined above have been overshadowed by what would be, in most parts of the world, an uncontroversial issue.
As I said in January, the police service will no longer be known as the RUC when the first recruits selected under the new arrangements begin their training in the autumn of 2001.
If I could achieve the objective of a new beginning for policing without this change, I would do so. But nobody should underestimate the pain caused to the police by Patten's original proposal. It has been taken, wrongly, as an insult and tantamount to disbandment. It is important to dispel these thoughts, and I am giving consideration to how this might be done.
I have accepted the challenge of a new beginning for policing fit for a changed society and a new century. I will now be asking others to rise to that challenge. To their immense credit, the RUC have started to prepare for the changes with typical discipline and professionalism.
For those in the unionist community who will find some of the proposals hurtful, the challenge will be to accept change as necessary for the good of the whole community. The new police service will be all the more effective for becoming more representative of both traditions in Northern Ireland.
Nationalists in turn will be challenged to give wholehearted support to the new service, encouraging young people to consider a career of vital public service as a police officer.
I firmly hope that once the difficult period of transition is over Northern Ireland will have a police service which may become a model for others - a benchmark in community policing against which we will judge services in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and beyond.