Republican dissidents may target members of the new district policing boards, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Mr Hugh Orde, has warned.
Twenty-six District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) have been established across the North in an effort to provide local policing accountability. The 207 members - 108 Catholics and 99 non-Catholics - along with elected members drawn from the councils will work with local police commanders.
Mr Orde, who was addressing hundreds of DPP members at a Belfast conference yesterday, said that dissident republicans may be planning to intensify their campaign. Both the "Real" and Continuity IRA are opposed to the PSNI, which they say is just the RUC renamed. A bomb was planted under the car of a recruit in Ballymena, Co Antrim, last year, and plans were uncovered to kill another officer in Newry, Co Down.
"We need to be clear about this, there is a risk at the moment," Mr Orde said. "The risk is from dissident republicans and we need to work hard to police that out."