This is a detailed analysis of policing in Northern Ireland. Tracing its history from 1922, the book portrays the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) as an organization burdened by its past as a colonial police force. It analyzes its perceived close relationship with unionism and why, for many nationalists, the RUC embodied the problem of the legitimacy of Northern Ireland, arguing that decisions made on the organization, composition and ideology of policing in the early years of the state had consequences which went beyond the everyday practice of policing.