The Troubles: RUC/PSNI personnel 1971-2011

From the early 1970s until the early 1980s, the number of police officers serving in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) more than doubled from around 4,000 to 8,000 full time officers, and it stayed at more than 8,000 officers until the end of the Troubles in 1998. The RUC was then superseded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001, and its numbers then dropped to around 7,000 officers in its first decade. Additionally, the RUC was supported by its reserve force, whose membership peaked at almost 5,000 personnel in the mid-1970s, and remained at over 4,000 until the end of the Troubles.