The Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, has warned that changes to the name and symbols of the RUC have the potential to bring down the Belfast Agreement.
The party met the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, at Stormont yesterday to discuss the Patten report. The UDP leader, Mr Gary McMichael, and party colleague, Mr David Adams, expressed alarm at the proposed symbolic changes.
The meeting was the first in a series involving the North's political parties and Dr Mowlam to discuss the report.
Mr Adams claimed the name change and proposals to stop the flying of the Union flag outside RUC stations were casting a shadow over continued unionist support for the agreement.
"There are many reasonable proposals about policing in the Patten report but our fear is that those are being overlooked because unionists are genuinely angry at the symbolic changes it proposes," he said.
"The removal of these symbols and the name change could well prove to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
"We fear that although these changes are designed to placate the nationalist and republican community, they will only be seen as cosmetic by their political representatives who will concentrate on the substantive issues arising out of the Patten report and its implementation.
"Meanwhile, the symbolic changes will be the main focus for debate and cause the greatest pain in the unionist community - especially among those families whose loved ones were killed while serving in the force.
"That could affect support for the agreement as anti-agreement politicians exploit the pain, just like they seized on emotive issues after the signing of the agreement."
Mr Adams said the UDP had agreed to supply Ms Mowlam with its own document on how police reform should be achieved.
"Obviously the party will be considering its own proposals, but I would imagine, for example, that one issue we would consider would be changing the name of the force to Royal Ulster Constabulary/Northern Ireland Police Service.
"I suspect we will be pressing for the maintenance of the tradition of flying the Union flag outside RUC stations because to remove it, as Patten proposes, would be to say Northern Ireland is not really a full member of the United Kingdom - that it's some weird hybrid.
"We have no doubt that Chris Patten's Commission made a great effort to bridge the gap between both communities, but we believe that in making his proposals to change the force, he should not have attempted to throw one community off board in return for getting the other community on board."
Meanwhile, Senator George Mitchell, who is chairing the review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, met British and Irish government officials at Stormont last night.
It is understood he drew up a timetable for meetings with pro-agreement parties this week.