Colin Breen - A Force Like No Other: The real stories of the RUC men and women who policed the Troubles

COLIN BREEN is a freelance journalist, screenwriter and broadcaster. He has written extensively for many newspapers, including the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life and Herald Dublin, and is a regular commentator on local and national radio, television and the BBC World Service. He served as an officer in the RUC for over fourteen years at the height of the Troubles.

A FORCE LIKE NO OTHER

The real stories of the RUC men and women who policed the Troubles

Colin Breen

If you are a former member of the RUC and have a story to tell, please do not hesitate to contact me at

First published in 2017 by Blackstaff Press

This edition published in 2017 by Blackstaff Press an imprint of Colourpoint Creative Ltd

Colourpoint House

Jubilee Business Park

21 Jubilee Road

Newtownards BT23 4YH

Colin Breen, 2017

Cover photograph: Pacemaker Press International

All rights reserved

Colin Breen has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Produced by Blackstaff Press

A cip catalogue for this book is available from the British Library

EPUB ISBN 978-1-78073-169-8

MOBI ISBN 978-1-78073-170-4

www.blackstaffpress.com

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

I dedicate this book to the memory of police officers everywhere who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and particularly to the 302 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary who died during the Troubles.

For peace we served.

In memory also of my brother Robin Breen, late of the Toronto Police Service.

Introduction

In 1983, Interpol named Northern Ireland as the most dangerous place in the world to be a police officer. The figures bear that out: between 1969 and 2001, 302 RUC officers were murdered, and over 10,000 were injured, 300 of them left disabled or seriously injured. Almost 70 officers committed suicide. Since then the RUC has become the PSNI, and that change, combined with the passing years, has made the gathering of these accounts by those who were there even more important.

This is the story of the men and women who policed the Troubles, told for the first time by them and in their own words. Over a number of years, as well as writing down my own stories, I interviewed former RUC, Special Branch and CID officers. I know that none of them would have spoken to me if I hadnt been a former member of the RUC myself.

A Force Like No Other is the frank and remarkable story of our everyday lives, of what it was like to be a cop: never hanging police shirts on the washing line; lying to children and friends about the job; checking over your shoulder and looking under your car for bombs; always on the alert for things out of place. At times, it stretched us to breaking point.

Despite the dangers, many felt their time in the RUC formed the best years of their lives. The humour, often bleak and dark, and the camaraderie that bound us together are everywhere in these accounts. That humour acted as a protective shield. Normal people might find it unsettling but it worked for us. The humour or a bottle of whiskey was the only possible antidote to the death and horror we lived with every day.

The camaraderie that existed in the RUC is as strong amongst its former members today as it ever was. We ran towards danger, knowing that we all had each others backs, creating an unspoken, invisible and unbreakable bond that will stay with us to our graves. When we see one another, its like we spoke yesterday, even if it has been years.

I started this project thinking that I would put together a humorous book about weird and wonderful encounters between police officers and the public. However, it became immediately apparent that the officers I was talking to had much more important things they wanted to talk to me about stories they hadnt even been able to tell their families. Several became very emotional and upset while they talked but were determined to give their accounts.

There were a few who wanted to contribute but couldnt even thinking about the past brought back the demons, sleepless nights or nightmares. Ironically, there was also one officer who said he had far more trouble policing the peace than he ever had at the height of the terrorist campaigns. He had become used to living on high alert and was hooked on the stress and adrenaline he simply couldnt handle peace. Others found solace in a bottle and sadly paid the price.

The three sections of the book reflect the RUCs basic eight-hour shift pattern: Earlies, Lates and Nights. It was tempting to group the stories into neat chapters or to follow a chronological structure, but I hoped that using our shift pattern to shape the book would give the reader a sense of the unpredictability of a typical day for an officer on duty. You literally did not know what you would be facing when the phone rang or the radio crackled into life.

When I approached the people who tell their stories in this book the first thing I told them was that they would be anonymous. I knew this would be important to them because, while all of them have retired, I was aware they would still be sensitive to potential risk even after all this time. Its our default setting. I still have to sit facing the door in restaurants or bars to the point of asking people Im with to move. Consequently, many names have been changed to protect identities.

I deliberately set out to get stories that would provide a good cross-section of policing around Northern Ireland as the job can vary greatly between rural and urban stations, and between internal departments such as CID, Special Branch and so on.

Apart from the removal of some police jargon for clarity, I have recorded the stories directly as they were told to me, to retain their immediacy and authenticity. Many of the officers that I interviewed were visibly reliving the experiences they recounted. While I have tidied up and streamlined stories here and there, I have remained faithful to the integrity of their individual voices. These are their stories and I wanted their voices to tell them.

When the violence erupted in 1968 the RUC had a couple of thousand members. As violence took hold, the force quickly expanded, reaching thirteen thousand at its peak. It was, to say the least, a very steep learning curve as officers tried to keep pace with fast-moving events on the streets, for which they were totally unprepared. Despite the obstacles, the RUC managed to solve 50 per cent of murders committed by loyalists and 30 per cent of those carried out by republicans.

The RUC evolved from a small rural-type service to the most internationally respected anti-terrorist police force in the world, whose former members still train other forces across the globe.

Ultimately this book is the human story, told from many personal perspectives, of how ordinary people cope in extraordinary times. None of the men and women of the RUC would have chosen the circumstances in which they found themselves, but they did their best with the cards they were dealt. Their stories show us how a career choice shaped, changed and ruined lives but also about how the human spirit triumphs in the darkest of moments.

Earlies
07:0015:00 hours

07:01 North Belfast

When you finish your training it doesnt take long to find out theres a very different world out there from the one youre used to.

When I came out of the training centre, I was stationed in Belfast. Being from the country, I was used to everybody being nice and friendly, always having time for a chat.

I got sent to the city for my first station in a very busy area, which had suffered greatly during the Troubles. Belfast was a bit of a war zone and I dont mind admitting it, I was more than a bit nervous. But excited, keen to do well.