Paramilitaries, whether with or without criminal records, must never be allowed join the PSNI, Mr Irwin Montgomery, head of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland has asserted.
Mr Montgomery at the federation's annual conference outside Belfast yesterday expressed suspicions about the British government's true intentions on this issue.
Some unionist politicians have also voiced concerns that the British government may be planning to allow some paramilitaries, including IRA members, join the PSNI.
Mr Montgomery told federation members and an audience that included Northern Secretary Peter Hain that Sinn Féin "continually and disgracefully" were using policing to gain concessions in its negotiations with the British government.
"We will never accept that the criminal records of terrorists, on either side, can be expunged. People who have murdered, bombed and maimed the innocent of Northern Ireland cannot have their slates wiped clean," Mr Montgomery said.
"In the past few days, secretary of state, you have given an assurance that convicted terrorists will not be admitted to the service. I welcome that as a commonsense pronouncement which all law-abiding people understand," he added. He hoped Mr Hain would hold to that pledge.
He said it must also be clear that paramilitaries who had no convictions could not join the PSNI. "This federation says not even suspected terrorists must ever be admitted to the police service."
Mr Montgomery warned: "Unless these moves are stopped in their tracks by the wider community showing its revulsion at the prospect, then we will see a sectarian-led cantonisation of operational policing. Inevitably, the destabilisation of society across Northern Ireland will follow. The price of any political party joining the policing board cannot be the operational integrity of the PSNI."
The PSNI must be permitted to act more forcefully at an earlier stage when riots begin and not wait for a "certain number of colleagues" to be injured. Police suffered fewer injuries dealing with the loyalist rioting on Saturday when they were freer to use plastic bullets than they did during the nationalist rioting at Ardoyne on July 12th when they were limited in the number of rounds they could fire, he said.
"We have, of course, the water cannon. Last year I told those of you who did not know that the water had to be heated in case some poor blast bomb thrower got a chill. Now I can tell you that it cannot be deployed at someone who is above ground level in case the poor fellow gets knocked over, falls and hurts himself."
Mr Hain told the conference he was considering introducing community support officers to assist full-time police in their duties. "Let me be crystal clear, so there can be no doubt, there is absolutely no question of a bomber one day becoming a community support officer the next."
PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said police officers had acted heroically when facing "appalling" violence of a scale not seen in Northern Ireland for many years. "I have never served with finer," he added.
