THE issue of membership of both the RUC and the Orange institutions has been brought to the fore by nationalist spokesmen, following confirmation that four RUC officers have been suspended from duty.
The officers, serving in Co Fermanagh, have been suspended on full pay while an investigation is carried out into allegations that they took part in recent loyalist parades.
The RUC disciplinary code requires officers to refrain from any activities which might bring the force into disrepute or give the impression to the public that it was not impartial.
Last January, a constable lost a legal challenge against the RUC's right to reprimand him for marching with both the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys in Limavady and Derry.
A High Court judge, Lord Justice Carswell, ruled that while members of the RUC were not precluded from membership of the Orange or other institutions, it could be taken to be an offence against discipline to take part in public parades of such organisations. Officers must accept certain restrictions on their private lives in order to maintain the force's reputation for even handedness, he ruled.
A Belfast SDLP councillor, Mr Alex Attwood, said yesterday the real issue was how many members of the Orange Order or other marching orders were in the RUC, "what agenda do they operate to in the RUC and what influence did they bring to bear on the events pre and post Drumcree?"
There were serious questions whether any member of a police service could be a member of any organisation that was perceived to be partial perceived to be triumphalist and perceived to be sectarian", he said.
Mr Attwood added "I don't think that any member of any police service in any jurisdiction never mind in a divided society like Northern Ireland - should be or could be a member of a police service if that was the nature of the organisation they were coming from."
Nationalists wanted straight answers about these questions, and a radical review of policing, he said.
A former member of the Police Authority for Northern Ireland,
"Mr Chris Ryder, said it was essential that the police "are seen to be above the political fray and the partisan fray that they are evenhanded and impartial and clearly and demonstrably so".
The Orange institutions were secret organisations and did not publish their membership lists, he said. Unionist spokesmen hit back by alleging there was a "witch hunt" against policemen who belonged to the Orange Order and other loyalist institutions.
A member of the Spirit of Drumcree group, Mr Joel Patton, said he believed there was a clever and sinister move to demonise the Orange Order and drive a wedge between the RUC and the Protestant community.
DUP councillor, Mr Sammy Wilson, said in a statement "Having persecuted Orangemen through banning their parades, the RUC now intend to do the same to those who are in the ranks and who dare to show their cultural and religious allegiance."
He, asked where "this witch hunt would stop. "Will church membership be vetted, will voting patterns be monitored, will restrictions be placed on who RUC men associate with, in order to cleanse the force of any opinion? Today's decision is political correctness gone mad."
UUP councillor, Mr Nelson McCausland, said concern for impartiality should also apply to other public bodies and organisations, for example membership of the GAA and the Gaelic League.
The suspended officers are understood to include an RUC sergeant and three members of the part time police reserve in rural Co Fermanagh.
The internal inquiry could clear them or issue a reprimand or a fine.