The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) came into being at midnight on 4 November 2001.
The PSNI was born out of the Patten reforms of the old RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and seemed to promise a new dawn for policing.
But the changes the reforms brought about were painful for many RUC officers, and for unionists, who viewed them as a betrayal. The 50/50 Catholic/Protestant recruitment policy has been controversial.
However, the possibility of nationalist buy-in to policing seemed to many as justifying the policy.
But it has been far from plain sailing for the PSNI, and more than 23 years after it came into being less than a third of officers are Catholics. Very few officers are from an ethnic minority background.
Belfast Telegraph security correspondent Allison Morris joins Ciarán Dunbar to explain the background of the PSNI and the difficulties it faces.
Allison Morris on the origins of the PSNI
