Lessons Learned from Loyalist-Police Engagement in Northern Ireland: The Connect Program

Abstract

The issue of policing remains one of the most contested aspects of Northern Ireland’s peace process. The legacy of the conflict has left building relations between the police and the two main communities, one of the thorniest issues in the ongoing transformation process. Violent actions and events during the conflict and the subsequent circumstances surrounding them, involving all protagonists, have informed and conditioned mind-sets, both consciously and unconsciously in terms of how the conflict is perceived by all sides.