The DUP and the SDLP have voiced concerns about British government plans for an international conference on policing in the North, to be held next spring.
US special envoy Mitchel Reiss yesterday offered reassurances that the proposed conference was the result of an American initiative when he met a DUP delegation in Belfast.
However, Policing Board member Ian Paisley jnr has said he believes the conference is intended to produce a "Patten Mark Two" blueprint for further concessions to Sinn Féin, in an effort to win republican endorsement of the policing dispensation in the North.
Chris (now Lord) Patten - whose international commission led to the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its reconstitution as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) - is understood to have been invited to attend the conference.
Senior SDLP sources last night expressed private concern that British ministers might hope to win Lord Patten's endorsement for changes beyond the original Patten Commission proposals, specifically in relation to vetting procedures for recruits to the PSNI and its proposed part-time reserve, as well as those applying to the recruitment of additional community service officers.
Sources in the DUP and SDLP say that there is no need for a conference to review progress on the implementation of the Patten proposals since an oversight commissioner already has that task.
In recent meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain and security minister Shaun Woodward the SDLP leadership has been pressing for assurances that the British government will abide by the original Patten proposal to exclude from the police people with criminal records and those with a "background" in terrorist or criminal activity.
The SDLP is also opposing British funding for a "community restorative justice" scheme, currently said to operate in Belfast, Derry and Newry outside the criminal justice system and without reference to the PSNI.
Mr Hain is expected to address these issues in a speech to the Police Federation tomorrow.