The chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing, Mr Chris Patten, has heard impassioned pleas from the residents of Dunmurry for the RUC not to be disbanded.
The UUP's Mr Jeffrey Donald son MP and Mr Edwin Poots of the DUP attended the lunchtime public forum held yesterday on the outskirts of Belfast.
Mr Patten assured the crowd of about 200 that he had not come as a "hatchet man" and said that there would not be any "no-go" areas for the commission.
Dr Maurice Hayes, a member of the commission, also attended the hearing, which was co-chaired by Franciscan brother Richard Kelly and the Rev Bill Moore.
Speaker after speaker expressed their support for the RUC and said they would not accept former prisoners in the force. Locals described the idea of disbandment as "grossly unfair" and "sheer folly".
However, there were calls for more foot patrols and for retraining so the police would be more approachable and "polite". One man said he had witnessed the police being "heavy-handed" on two separate occasions.
The Rev Alan Smiley of the Free Presbyterian Church asked Mr Patten if he would meet representatives of his church. He urged the commission to resist "every temptation to succumb to the pressures of Roman Catholic republicanism".
The crowd heckled one member of the largely elderly audience when he suggested that a limited number of the Garda Siochana should be welcomed on to the force. Another man who said the force should be called the RUC-Northern Ireland Police Force, to appease both communities, was told to "sit down". One woman, who said she was speaking on behalf of the Catholic community of the area, said the force had done "sterling work". Most local Catholics she knew "fully supported the RUC in the work that they do".
UUP councillor Mr Tom Gribben said the Garda was not representative of the Protestant community. Another man drew attention to discrimination against RUC members by the GAA.
Some local people told Mr Patten that they did not envy him his task. Mr Donaldson said the RUC "had borne the brunt of violence from both sides" and members had been intimidated out of their homes by loyalists as well as republicans. He said the name of the RUC should not be changed as it had special significance to people who had lost family members who were police officers to paramilitary violence.
He told those present that two of his relatives were officers killed by paramilitaries.