Fighting the current public disorder in Northern Ireland will require a full-time reserve, acting PSNI chief constable Mr Colin Cramphorn said today.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Cramphorn said police were responding to "emergency calls and little else" in many areas.
He said levels of public disorder and police activity were back to levels last seen in 1997 - before the reinstated Provisional IRA ceasefire. Public disorder was diverting resources away from normal policing, he said.
The Policing Board, to which Mr Cramphorn reported yesterday, is considering the future of a full-time Police Service of Northern Ireland reserve.
He admitted the levels of illness-related absenteeism was a difficulty. But he noted more than 700 officers suffered injuries in the past 12 months - a figure far above other police forces in Britain and Ireland. It is estimated about 10 per cent or 1,000 officers per day are on sick leave.
Mr Cramphorn also said community policing under the Patton proposals remained an "unfulfillable aspiration" because of the day-to-day demands.
He said society and the body politic have not delivered because a successful implementation of Patton "was predicated by a successful implementation of the Belfast agreement".
Mr Cramphorn denied arrests were not following public disorder and said follow-ups were leading to a steady stream of people before the courts.