'You go to work and you may 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 by some to be one of the finest police forces in the world, its officers are looked upon by others as the evil storm-troopers of Unionism and the British Goverment. 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 with Republicans that killed over 300 policemen and injured thousands more. For 14 years Latham, an Englishman, served as a police officer, both in England and in Ulster - before transferring from the English Special Branch to the RUC in 1991. Deadly Beat is his raw and hardhitting story, giving a unique insight into the grim reality of policing Ulster. He charts the dedication and restraint of officers who witnessed their colleagues die, yet were obliged to play within the rules of the law. Rules so loaded in favour of the killer that comparatively few were brought to justice.