Abstract

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland reformed the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to make its police service more inclusive, representative, and legitimate. Inaugurated with its new name, the Police Service of
Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Northern Irish police introduced several reforms, such as a quota policy and community policing arrangements. Yet, over almost 25 years of its history, the PSNI is still receiving negative, sometimes antagonistic, feedback from the post-conflict society, especially lacking public confidence. Using different statistical data and interrogating governmental s, this paper analyses the outcomes and future challenges that the PSNI is currently facing. It highlights that while the institutional cornerstones for civil policing have been properly in place, the PSNI lacks effective strategies and resources to gain public confidence as much as it aims. It is not only because policing remains still a polarising issue in Northern Ireland, but also the police reform was initially ill-designed and failed to address its trajectory of human rights abuses during the Troubles. Lessons for police reform and policing in other post-conflict societies are provided, focusing on workforce diversity, the de-politicisation of policing through public engagement, and justicesensitive security sector reform (JSSR).