A Force Like No Other: The Real Stories of the RUC Men and Women Who Policed the Troubles

Northern Ireland’s police officers confront the Troubles with raw, unsettled honesty, detailing informant handling, crime interviews, bombing aftermaths, and the personal tolls of a frontline, perilous era.

In 1983, Interpol named Northern Ireland the most dangerous place in the world to be a police officer.

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In 1968, the RUC was catapulted into the Troubles. Bombs, death threats and murder became a regular part of the day job. Working right at the heart of the conflict, police officers were often caught in the middle – heroes to some, villains to others.

Now, for the first time, the men and women who policed the Troubles tell their own stories in their own words. Covering all aspects of police work, from handling informants and conducting interviews with notorious criminals to dealing with the aftermath of tragic bombings, these candid, moving and sometimes blackly comic stories show the unpredictable, brutal and surreal world in which the RUC operated.

As a former police officer, Colin Breen has unparalleled access to former RUC, Special Branch and CID officers who have never spoken out before. Their stories reveal the mayhem and madness that officers dealt with every day; the psychological and personal toll of the job; and the camaraderie – and the whiskey – that helped them to cope.

Raw, unsettling and frank, A Force Like No Other tells the real story of the RUC.

COLIN BREEN is a journalist and broadcaster and has written extensively for local and national papers, including the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday World and Sunday Times. In his former life he served in the RUC, and was based in Belfast for over ten years at the height of the Troubles. He is currently working on a TV project on The Shankill Butchers for BBC Northern Ireland.