The PSNI has established a specialist detective team to investigate past clerical child abuse in Northern Irelan.
Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr also called for a state inquiry into abuse allegations.
Mr Kerr said it would play its part to bring to justice those responsible but stressed there is a need for a wider response among statutory agencies to address the allegations.
Mr Kerr was briefing members of the Policing Board today about the response to the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church across Ireland.
He said a recent upsurge in historic complaints against clerics had prompted the PSNI to set up a specialised investigation team. “In light of the number and nature of recent allegations we are setting up a dedicated investigations team under Serious Crime Branch,” he said.
The Northern Ireland Executive is considering whether to establish a public inquiry similar to those that have unearthed a litany of crimes in the Republic.
Stormont sources have indicated that ministers are likely to back calls for a state inquiry north of the Border.
At today’s Policing Board meeting in Belfast, PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott said the volume of allegations he anticipated would mean his detectives would have to prioritise which cases were investigated first.
Democratic Unionist board member Jimmy Spratt had asked for an assurance that all complaints would be followed up immediately, but Mr Baggott said that would be impossible given the resources at his disposal.
Mr Baggott said cases where a threat of immediate harm existed would be investigated first.
Endorsing that approach, Mr Kerr noted that 29 of the allegations recently reported to the police involved suspected perpetrators who are now dead. “Clearly if there are issues like that, that are so historic, then we are not going to prioritise them,” he said.