Deadly beat : inside the Royal Ulster Constabulary

"You go to work, and you might be shot dead. You imagine being horribly maimed in a bomb blast. You come home and wonder if you'll be shot at the front door.

You go to bed with a revolver on the bedside cabinet.

At times you wonder if this is really part of the UK."This was the world inhabited by Richard Latham during his service with the Royal Ulster Constabulary - a force that remains an institution of contradictions and intrigue to many outside observers.

Considered by some to be one of the finest police forces in the world, its officers are looked upon by others as evil storm-troopers of Unionism and the British Government.

The RUC is now a force undergoing sweeping change in response to Republican demands, yet for 30 years it stood alongside the British Army in a war that killed over 300 policement and injured thousands more.For 14 years, Latham, an Englishman, served as a police officer, both in England and in Northern Ireland, before transferring from the English Special Brance to the RUC in 1991.

This is his story, giving his insight into the grim reality of policing Ulster.

The book brings to light incidents of racism and religious bias experienced by the author himself.

It looks behind the scenes to reveal the extremes of behaviour, alcohol abuse, womanizing and petty corruption that happened.