The Independent Commission on Policing chaired by the former Hong Kong governor and Northern Ireland minister, Mr Chris Patten, is to hold public meetings in nationalist and loyalist areas of west Belfast next week.
The commission was established under the Belfast Agreement "to make recommendations for future policing arrangements in Northern Ireland" and is due to report by next summer. The first of the west Belfast meetings is likely to be held in the loyalist Shankill Road area on October 14th and will be followed the next evening by a meeting at a venue in a nationalist district.
"At this stage it's very much a listening exercise on the commission's part," a spokesman said. Established in June, the commission initially invited written submissions, receiving a total of 1,953 by the closing date of September 15th. Members also visited a number of RUC stations.
The second phase of its activities began last weekend when political parties and other organisations were invited to make oral submissions at the commission's headquarters in Belfast. The west Belfast public meetings will be followed by similar gatherings throughout Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein and two bodies, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) have expressed concern over the involvement of a senior RUC officer with the secretariat of the Patten Commission.
A commission spokesman said the RUC officer was "attached" on a full-time basis to the secretariat. "His role is as a liaison to facilitate meetings with the various people within the RUC and to facilitate the gathering of any information that the commissioners or the secretariat need on the RUC. He does not have any impact and is not involved whatever on the policy side."
The CAJ's director, Mr Martin O'Brien, said it was seeking clarification about the status and role of the officer. "While it is important that the commission have a good working relationship with the police, it is equally important to maintain public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the commission's work."
Mr O'Brien said the CAJ was certain the commission members "will share with us the concern that they must at all times jealously guard their actual and perceived independence".
Sinn Fein's spokeswoman on policing, Ms Bairbre de Brun, said the party would be raising the question with the commission and the two governments. "The RUC should have no role in what is supposed to be a totally independent commission. This man should be removed immediately," she said.
The Centre for Human Rights said there was "much anger within the nationalist and republican communities that the RUC is involved once again in investigating itself".
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, in a submission to the commission on the policing issue in general, said all avenues should be explored which would contribute to the development of a police force "that belongs to nobody, yet serves everybody".
The Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland, in its submission, said that "although radical change within the RUC should reflect a cessation of terrorism and terrorist-related crime, it must be undertaken with care".