Police recruits on both sides of the Border are to receive special training to equip them with the skills to deal with people with special needs.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland and Garda Chief Supt Colm Rooney officially launched the new training programme at a ceremony in Belfast with Special Olympics Ireland chief executive Mary Davis.
The Special Olympics Law Enforcement programme has been developed by all three organisations for recruits to both police forces and will see them following a common curriculum at Garnerville Police Training College in Belfast and Templemore.
Assistant Chief Constable McCausland said the programme was "broadening out the diversity issue, so we are not just saying that diversity is about ethnic minorities or people from a different gender or religion.
"It is about disability being an important area which cannot be forgotten because, let's be candid, 20 years ago people with learning disabilities were quietly pushed to one side," said Assistant Chief Constable McCausland.
Both police forces confirmed plans for another law enforcement torch run next year between Cork and Belfast, when Belfast is due to host the All Ireland Special Olympic Games.
Chief Supt Rooney said that the programme would enable both police services to improve the quality of the service they provided to the entire community in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
"After the 2003 games in Dublin, we all wanted to see how we could tap into the huge good will that was out there in the community when that event was staged," he said.
Police recruits will have four modules to study under the new programme, covering the background to the Special Olympics movement, working and communicating with people with learning disabilities, studying learning disabilities and policing and also the background to the law enforcement torch run. - (PA)