THE new RUC chief constable must tackle the issue of divisive symbols associated with the force, such as its name, its uniform, the oath of allegiance and the flying of the Union flag, the former chairman of the North's police authority, Mr David Cook, has said.
Mr Cook, ousted as authority chairman earlier this year after an internal row over his suggested reforms of the RUC, said the symbols of policing would have to take account of the accommodation which must be reached between unionism and nationalism.
In an article in the Irish News, addressing the new chief constable who will be selected later this week, he said: "Do not believe Sir John Wheeler [the Northern security minister] if he tells you after you are appointed, that symbols are not important.
Mr Cook said the RUC appointee would face the classic political problem faced by all in public life: "How do you manage change and maintain morale?" Maintaining: morale was as important for society as for the police, he added.
The new head of the RUC would have to grapple with the political reality that Northern society not only should, but must change. "In my view, it is in fact; already changing and it is that very process of change which can, often enough, increase the turmoil," wrote Mr Cook.
The chief constable would have to work and communicate closely with the community. "On the one hand, the police need to be led by a chief constable who takes the creation of an open and transparent partnership between the police and communities seriously.
"On the other hand, the community must respond by participating with the police in a cooperative partnership."
The chief constable and his colleagues, Mr Cook said, should develop "a robust antipathy" to politicians and community leaders who did not make the accommodation of unionism and nationalism their objective.
"Any politician who sets out to avoid or derail any such accommodation is, on a continuing basis, making the job of policing this society more difficult for the police. It is time for the police to be more open about saying so," he said.
In a list of "areas for action", Mr Cook included the issue of symbols, the composition and structure of the force, and communication with all the different communities in Northern society.
"If this society is made up mainly of unionists and nationalists, its police force must also include people from both those communities who subscribe to a common impartial policing ethic," wrote Mr Cook.