There was standing room only in the packed public forum held by the Independent Commission on Policing in Castlereagh last night. Three members of the commission attended the meeting in east Belfast to hear local residents voice their steadfast support for the RUC.
Local people told the commission that the RUC had shielded them from paramilitary activity and had enabled them to live a "half-normal existence" and they did not want the RUC to be used as a "political football".
One speaker urged that change should take place only when stability had been achieved, not in order to buy peace. "Please do not let the terrorists set the agenda for change," he said.
Sir John Smith, a member of the commission, told the audience of 350 people that the commission had "no hidden agenda", and stressed its independence. He said that he would "resign without hesitation" if he felt that the commission's role was "merely to rubber-stamp" a document drawn up in London, Dublin or Washington.
Mrs Iris Robinson, a DUP Assembly member, expressed regret that the commission's chairman, Mr Chris Patten, had not attended the meeting. "It seems as if you have to be a Garvaghy Road resident to get Mr Patten's attention."
Mrs Robinson said that the work of the Patten commission represented the culmination of an "orchestrated campaign by Sinn Fein-IRA to destroy the RUC". She said the current series of public meetings was "merely a cosmetic exercise", with the outcome "predetermined".
Many speakers from the floor voiced anti-American comments at the US member of the commission, Mrs Kathleen O'Toole, who attended the meeting. "You have a bit of a problem in America, you interfere in everyone's business," said one man. "You should see how your police get on."
The meeting was also attended by the commission member Mr Peter Smyth.