Loyalist paramilitary flags have been placed outside a PSNI training college.
The UDA flags have been erected on lampposts outside the police training facility on Garnerville Road in East Belfast.
Loyalist paramilitary flags have also been placed recently near some supermarkets such as Tesco in Newtownbreda in the south of the city.
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Police said they only remove flags where there are "risks to public safety owing to their erection".
Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry condemned the displays as "absurd".
He told BBC's Nolan Live the flags are used to intimidate, mark out territory and exert "coercive control" over communities.
The North Down MP said: "This is a perennial problem in Northern Ireland. This often happens with impunity.
"No one has the right to claim what is shared space and put up any emblem on a lamppost, whether it's a national flag and in particular paramilitary flags, and the latter are actually a criminal offence.
"So that does beg the question, why whenever these are put up - in open daylight often - outside for example police stations, why there's no intervention whenever people actually witness the thing happening?"
UUP councillor Jim Rodgers criticised the paramilitary displays, saying they are "making people very, very fearful, and it's hitting business".
He said: "I don't know why they want to put that flag up. I just cannot understand it and it's been drawn to my attention by quite a large number of people from both sides of the religious divide, and it's unfortunate because people are trying to mark out territory."
In a statement, Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said police have no "specific power" to remove flags.
He said: "Within the current statutory framework, the removal of flags is not the responsibility of the police service nor do we have a specific power to do so and we will only act to remove flags where there are assessed risks to public safety owing to their erection.
"We are aware that this is a sensitive issue for the whole community and there is no easy solution. There is no community or political consensus on the flags issue and ultimately this requires a political, not a policing resolution.
"Our experience shows the most effective solution to this issue is negotiation, mediation and engagement between local communities working with agencies including local police.
"We will continue to work with local communities and partners to find long-term solutions to the issues surrounding the flying of flags."
Flags and emblems remain contentious in Northern Ireland's divided communities.
A long-delayed £800,000 Stormont report aimed at addressing cultural divisions was published in 2021 but failed to reach agreement on dealing with many issues over flags.
The Flags Commission report said paramilitary flags should not be flown, but there was no agreement on a mechanism for regulation and enforcement.
Around 45 recommendations were contained in the paper, but it was published without the first and deputy first ministers' office agreeing an action plan on implementing any of its proposals.
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