THE chairman of the RUC's representative body has called for sweeping new hard line security measures if there is a renewal of widespread paramilitary violence in the North.
He also sharply criticised the Police Authority's public consultation process on RUC structures and reforms.
Mr Les Rodgers, addressing the annual conference of the Northern Ireland Police Federation, said should violence begin again, his members would want to see an enhanced role for SAS type units, internment North and South and new anti terrorist legislation.
He said they would also expect "effective measures to reduce terrorist access to the media".
The federation would be looking for concerted, aggressive action by all involved governments, the British and Irish governments, the United States and Europe.
Mr Rodgers told several hundred RUC officers at the conference in the Europa Hotel. "If the peace process cannot be kept alive then we cannot be expected to see its demise as the military equivalent of a match resuming because rain briefly stopped play."
He said the IRA ceasefire had not ended with the Canary Wharf bombing but when a police officer's home at Moy, Co Tyrone, was attacked two weeks earlier.
The prospect of peace, bringing with it new and agreed institutions was the "holy grail" they all sought. "But it may be illusionary and remain beyond our grasp for some time to come.
They wanted so see the "new and determined policy on prison sentencing" by the British Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, to mean the end of 50 per cent remission in the North. Life sentences should mean life.
Deploring some of the contributions to the debate over the past year on the RUC's future, Mr Rodgers said. "This force has been poked over, dissected and prodded for response in a way which my members have found unnerving, demoralising and distasteful.
"When peace broke out, the rush to bury the RUC along with the past 25 years was unseemly... The speed with which people were moving to chuck us out was shameful as well as premature.
"Our own Police Authority, despite our reservations, proceeded with an ill judged consultation process which has fuelled debate on policing but added nothing substantive to its value."
He accused the authority of signalling issues for public debate on the basis of "numerically insignificant responses". Only 199 people out of 7,974 had wanted a change in the name of the RUC yet the authority has chosen to raise this as a major issue.
"Nobody raised the oath of office yet the authority decided this was an issue which we also needed to pursue... The vast majority of people were content with the flying of flags at police stations on ordained days but again the authority in its report chose to lift this to new heights of political significance."
The Northern Security Minister, Sir John Wheeler, told the conference emergency legislation would remain in place for as long as it was needed.
The chairman of the Police Authority, Mr Pat Armstrong, later rejected the criticisms made of its community consultation exercise.
"Through our consultation, which was unprecedented in the United Kingdom, we have obtained for the first time a comprehensive picture of the community's attitude to the police service in Northern Ireland.
"This shows a broad measure of support for the RUC and a high level of satisfaction with the way in which the police deal with the public. But it also shows that support amongst sections of the community is sometimes qualified.
"This is why the authority has found it necessary to address issues which can affect people's perceptions of the police and to achieve a balanced view on how best to increase confidence in and support for the police service."
