It was a myth to suggest that the "Flanaganisation" of the RUC could make the force acceptable to Northern nationalists, the SDLP Assembly member for West Belfast, Mr Alex Attwood, told the conference on Saturday.
Mr Attwood, a solicitor, was critical of what he believed was the unacceptable attitude of the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, to police reform. "There is a need for more than Ronnie Flanagan proposes, or may yet propose," he said.
He particularly criticised an alleged RUC assault on an SDLP councillor, Mr Martin Morgan, and a number of people in north Belfast in January, in which Mr Morgan's arm was broken.
At the time there was no riot situation and no threat, said Mr Attwood. "The police were sent in to teach a public representative and the people he represented a lesson," he claimed.
He complained that the police investigation into the incident was totally inadequate.
The RUC said yesterday that a police investigation of the incident, under the supervision of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, had been ordered by Mr Flanagan.
Mr Alban Maginness, a North Belfast Assembly member, said there must be a historical shift in views from everyone involved in the policing debate to allow a resolution of the issue. "People on both sides of the sectarian divide must abandon their historic baggage and work to shape a new civil rights culture within our society."
This would involve change from unionists, police officers, republicans and SDLP members and supporters. "Unionists have got to see the value of a police service that genuinely reflects the political and religious diversity of our society," he said. "Police officers and their commanders must accept that the gun culture and macho mentality of the former RUC has no place in a new Northern Ireland police service," he continued.
"Republicans and loyalists must accept that kangaroo courts and covert political control under the guise of phoney community organisations have no place in the new post agreement (period). The type of political bullying that has characterised the recent Donegal Celtic cup tie must be abandoned," Mr Maginness said to applause.
Mr Danny O'Connor, an Assembly member for East Antrim, claimed that during the disturbances following the Drumcree stand-off this summer the RUC in his area had failed to protect beleaguered Catholic families.
In Carrickfergus one "estate was ethnically cleansed of its Catholic population while the RUC failed to respond to 999 calls, and while the fire brigade could not respond because of the illegal barricades".
The conference adopted a Newry motion supporting party policy on policing and urging Mr Flanagan to "desist from making political statements which reflect the viewpoint of one section of our community only, and in doing so abusing his position as a public servant".
Mrs Brid Rodgers, Assembly member for Upper Bann, said the Belfast Agreement must become the template by which contentious parades such as Drumcree are resolved.
Mrs Rodgers said Drumcree was not simply about "a 10-minute march along a road", as unionists claimed, and as some people in the South also believed.
"The issue is that the parades conflict, whether it be the Garvaghy Road, the Ormeau Road, Derry, Fermanagh or anywhere else is a microcosm of our wider conflict. It is in every way symbolic of the wider conflict that exists in Northern Ireland", she said.
Resolution was about realising that progress was only possible through dialogue, and she now hoped that inclusive dialogue would be possible to resolve the continuing deadlock over Drumcree and next year's contentious parades. Already behind-the-scenes activity was taking place in relation to Drumcree.
She added that the Belfast Agreement could serve as a model for resolution. Initially, some unionists would not engage with the peace process, but gradually they had entered the process and, painstakingly, sufficient progress had been made to arrive at the agreement. Similarly, progress could be made on parades.
