The RUC was controversial before and during the Troubles; typically, Irish nationalists saw it as pro-unionist, while unionists had solidarity with the hundreds of RUC officers killed by republican paramilitaries. As part of the Northern Ireland peace process an Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland produced the "Patten Report" in September 1999, which recommended structural changes and renaming the RUC the "Police Service of Northern Ireland" (PSNI). The subsequent GC award was interpreted by some as a compensation or sop to unionists and RUC supporters for accepting the substantive changes; the UK government denied this. The Queen presented the George Cross on 12 April 2000 in a ceremony at Hillsborough Castle, County Down attended by the senior RUC officers; the cross was accepted by PC Paul Slaine, who had lost both legs in a 1992 IRA attack.