HARDLY a week passes without lawyers for the British government appearing before the courts in Belfast to apologise for past murderous crimes and pay substantial damages to relatives and survivors of the state's 30-year campaign of collusion. 

So regular are these appearances and so chilling the behaviour of the supposed forces of law and order here over thirty years of bleak warfare that it's amazing that the narrative of the RUC as a police service can still find traction on our airwaves. 

But of course, while facts are sacred, opinions are free, and if unionist politicians and former RUC officers wish to defend the indefensible that's entirely up to them.

What isn't as easily forgiven, though, is the continuing PSNI insistence that the RUC was the Ulster equivalent of the Vatican Swiss Guard when in fact the force was a malevolent actor throughout the 30 years of 'The Troubles'. Canvassing support from young Catholics during recruitment drives but asking them to accept that historic white is black – that what their parents and grandparents witnessed didn't happen – is a road to nowhere for the PSNI.

And that's before we even get to the nefarious role of MI5 in policing here, a role so powerful and so pernicious that it all but makes normal policing impossible.

For, as British journalist John Ware reveals in his new book, 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny', the British government reigns supreme when it comes to the most vital policing issues.

Of course, this relates to 'legacy' cases where the British Secretary of State, with the endorsement of the Supreme Court in London, has ruled that for reasons of 'national security' the truth about lawbreaking on an industrial scale by the state can never see the light of day. This has come into sharp focus in the case of British Army and MI5 agent Freddie Scappaticci — who the British refuse to confirm was Stakeknife — who was allowed to abduct, torture and execute suspected informers while in the pay of the state. 

But it also applies very much to the present, with MI5 still playing lead on policing matters which relate to 'national security'. And from our past experience, we know that the definition 'national security' can be as wide and as perilous to the peace process as the British wish it to be. 

John Ware shows that MI5 lied, covered up and stymied efforts by successive British government inquiries to investigate even the tip of the collusion iceberg. 

If that's what the British government and its agencies will do to cover up pernicious activities dating back, in some cases, 50 and more years, what chance at all that they will respect the rule of law or allow real policing to flourish today? 

The reality is that a state which goes to court to prevent a coroner revealing the role of 25 state agents in the 1997 murder of GAA veteran Seán Brown has zero interest in a new start to policing. That conclusion is only confirmed by the fact that the PSNI Chief Constable had agreed to the limited release of information about these loyalists killers on the HMG's payroll. It's clear who holds the whip hand when it comes to policing and, tragically, it's no-one currently working out of PSNI HQ Knock. 

And thus, court appearances by hand-wringing representatives of the British government will continue apace as courageous families and bold jurists strive to reveal the truth about the state's murder of its own citizens.

And, just as surely, the PSNI will remain holed below the water line.