Out of necessity the RUC has become a largely paramilitary force, a gendarmerie rather than the provider of a policing service. It is commonplace for officers dealing with routine crime matters to call to private houses while carrying handguns or even automatic machine pistols.
It is not unusual for motorists to be pulled over and asked about trivial traffic infractions by officers wearing body armour and carrying Heckler and Koch machineguns.
One of the key parallel reforms, alongside the establishment of new political structures, will be the restructuring and normalisation of policing in the North. The objectives set out in the Belfast Agreement are quite specific.
Annex A of the Agreement says that the Commission's proposals should be designed to "ensure" that policing is delivered in constructive and inclusive partnerships with the community.
The RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, has already set out his case that the "operational independence" of the force must not be eroded.
He is also opposed to changing the name of the force despite the "Royal Ulster" prefix having overt political associations with the cause of unionism.
He said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph last week: "It's not just a name. It's a title conferred by royal charter. There are very few policing organisations in the world that enjoy that privilege. It makes us proud."
The Chief Constable pointed out he had not sought a commission and said: "It's not something I would welcome because I don't see it as designed to have the primary objective of improving the policing service. It is designed for a political purpose, albeit an entirely legitimate one."
The Telegraph reported that the Chief Constable would examine "whether there was a need to fly the Union flag from RUC stations so often."
According to senior security sources there is an onus on the Chief Constable to maintain morale in his force while there is still the potential for major disruption and violence.
To emphasise that he had not forgotten the sacrifices made by his force, the Telegraph article was accompanied by pictures of most of the 299 RUC officers killed in the Troubles.
There is a wide gulf between the republican/nationalist interpretation of a Northern Ireland police service and that held by unionists and the RUC itself.
The flying of the Union flag from stations, on an assortment of royal birthdays and other public occasions, is seen in strongly republican areas such as west Belfast, south Armagh and east Tyrone as highly provocative. The Union flag was flying at half-mast over Andersonstown barracks in west Belfast yesterday for reasons which were unclear to local people.
The controlled display of the flag is almost certainly one of the "minimum" reforms that nationalists would demand.
The other central issue about the make-up of a new police service would be the under-representation of Catholics in the RUC.
Mr Alex Attwood of the SDLP pointed out that the official estimate that 7.8 per cent of the force is Catholic is probably an exaggeration of even potential nationalist representation, as this figure includes British Catholics who were attracted to the force by the high wages.
The main policing problem in Northern Ireland is that the RUC has never integrated with the Catholic working class.
Without community sympathy and support there is no effective flow of criminal intelligence. This has allowed the Provisional IRA to grow in the Catholic community to the extent that, in some republican areas, it has usurped the RUC's policing function with kangaroo courts and "punishment" beatings and shootings.
Mr Attwood said he had previously been impressed by Mr Patton when he served as a minister in the Northern Ireland Office. He expected he would quickly grasp the essential issues of policing reform.
"The commission must work to the Agreement parameters. Those parameters will create a policing service that will be directly different from the policing experience we have had to date."
Sinn Fein and the IRA will strongly resist attempts to integrate into Catholic working-class areas any new Northern Ireland police force which is not to their liking.
A Sinn Fein discussion document on policing sets out its position: "A proper policing service must be created to replace the RUC, which must be disbanded. It must have a minimum of 40 per cent nationalists in its ranks. This should be achieved in an agreed timetable in the context of specific affirmative action measures.
"Pending the disbandment of the RUC, British political and cultural symbols and the paramilitary trappings of the Force must be removed. Interrogation centres must be closed. A screening process must be initiated to remove officers with a record of human rights abuse."
The force will almost certainly begin to reduce in size after this summer, if the North remains calm.
About 18 months into the first IRA ceasefire members of the RUC Reserve began to receive preliminary notice of termination because of the reduction in the security threat. The notices were withdrawn after the IRA resumed its campaign with the bombing of Canary Wharf.
At present the RUC has a reserve force of just under 3,000 full-time and 1,358 part-time constables. These officers are used mainly as guards and escorts. Some have lengthy service records and will have considerable entitlements on early retirement.
The regular force consists of 8,450 officers, almost three times its strength in 1968. Then it had just over 3,000 regular officers, backed up by the irregular and highly controversial B-Specials.
The force will probably also lose many of its military trappings. But it is almost certain that both governments will wish to ensure that it retains a capacity to defend society in the North.
The Independent Commission on policing in Northern Ireland will have to take into account the continuing potential threat from dissident terrorist groups and widespread public disorder. While the main paramilitary ceasefires remain intact there are at least three minor paramilitary organisations, the INLA, Continuity IRA and Loyalist Volunteer Force, which seem determined to cause disruption.
Coincidentally, the establishment of the Independent Commission will run parallel with the major review of policing in the Republic under the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI).
This is part of a drive to increase efficiency with the introduction of new technology, new rosters, and performance reviews.
Both reviews are likely to be controversial. The leaders of the main Garda staff association, the Garda Representative Association (GRA), have threatened to block the implementation of reforms as part of industrial action over pay.