It was convened by Shadow Justice Secretary, and former senior policeman, Graeme Pearson MSP.
He is carrying out a national review for Labour looking at the effectiveness of the single police force.
And he held a meeting in the town last week to gather public views.
Afterwards Mr Pearson said: “It’s clear from the public meeting that local people have evidenced a lack of faith in the single police force. That evidence strengthens the fact that something has gone wrong with the implementation of Police Scotland, and that policing in Scotland needs put right.
“This isn’t a criticism of our police officers, who local people know are doing their best under very difficult circumstances. But the reality is that because of Scottish Governments cuts to civilian staff, they simply aren’t doing the job they were trained for.”
Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray added: “The sheer number of local people engaging in this debate just goes to show how frustrated we all are at what has happened to local policing.”
