Cuts to policing budgets are "savage and unbearable" according to Police Federation NI Chair Liam Kelly, as the PFNI holds its annual conference.
Police officers are unable to form a trade union under current legislation, so the PFNI is the representative body for officers here, up to the rank of Chief Inspector.
Mr Kelly said the Police Service was looking at very difficult choices, as it faced a £120m budget deficit, while the threat level is set at "severe", the highest rating across the UK nations.
Read more: PSNI facing ‘potentially impossible’ financial situation, warns chief constable
He told Belfast Live the blame for reduced policing and police numbers lies squarely at the foot of government.
"It's a clear indication of the position of the UK government when the Secretary of State not only turned down an invitation to come to the conference, but he's also turned down two previous requests for meetings to discuss the crisis that's facing policing in Northern Ireland," he said.
"His failure to meet or even be at the conference is a testament to how out of touch he is and leads to an interpretation that the government couldn't care less about our policing service or what our colleagues are facing.
"In England and Wales, there's been an uplift programme of 20,000 officers in the last year, but in Northern Ireland, we're witnessing the exact opposite with declining numbers, despite the fact our threat level is severe.
"We're implementing savage and unbearable cuts of which there will be consequences."
The Northern Ireland Office said how funding was delivered for the PSNI was a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.
"The UK Government fully supports the excellent work that the Police Service of Northern Ireland undertakes to keep people in Northern Ireland safe, often in exceptionally challenging circumstances," a spokesperson said.
"Policing in NI, and police funding, are primarily devolved matters. It is for the devolved administration to determine the allocation of funding to the PSNI from the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) block grant.
"The prioritisation of police resourcing is the responsibility of the Department of Justice, working with the wider NI Executive."
Those consequences could have very real visible outcomes as Mr Kelly said drastic options were being considered.
"The Chief Constable has been very open about the challenges and I think you'll start to see more of that at the next Policing Board meeting," he added.
"One of the things he's going to have to consider is closing more police stations to try and save more money and it's going to become more difficult for rural communities especially to come forward to police in terms of accessibility.
"One of the other things the Chief has mentioned is potentially taking one of our helicopters offline, so that reduces that capability and these are hard decisions that are going to be made.
"Last year the PSNI after quite a hard year, still had a £59m operating deficit and they're going to have to do the same again this year.
"The Chief Operating Officer, Pamela McCready has already said it's simply not doable so it's a question of where we go from here - we need more investment, that's the key - in the absence of that, we're on a bit of a hiding to nothing here."
Mr Kelly added that when local government reformed in 2020 at Stormont, commitments made under the New Decade New Approach accord should have been honoured.
"Our numbers are now at their smallest since the PSNI was established," he said.
"With £120m deficit budget this year, we could be facing having 6,000 officers by the end of the year just to balance books.
"Under the NDNA agreement, there was a commitment to increase to 7,500 officers and that has never materialised - here we are in 2023, with just over 6,600 officers."
He said the threat facing officers remains significant, with the most high profile recent incident being the shooting of DCI John Caldwell in Omagh in February.
"On one hand, we're being asked to deal with terrorists and organised crime gangs, but we're literally having our hands tied behind our back because our resources and specialist resources in particular are reducing at a rapid rate, said Mr Kelly.
"I'm not saying it's open season for terrorist or hardened criminals, but it will make our job significantly more difficult."
Mr Kelly welcomed the news that DCI Caldwell was taking good steps in his recovery.
"Since he's been released from hospital, he's been making good progress.
"He's been engaging in both physiological and psychological support mechanisms and it will be a long road to recovery.
"But the important thing for him is he's out of hospital and at home recovering with his family, which is positive."
Assaults on police officers have also risen in the past five years and the PFNI Chair said new measures were needed to help protect officers doing their jobs.
"We think it needs bespoke legislation to allow the justice system to put out effective deterrent sentences to stop assaults on our officers," he said.
"Secondly, we need officers properly equipped to protect themselves when they are confronted with people intending to cause them harm, which would encompass a wider rollout of TASER devices.
"From our data, the very officers who are being assaulted the worst are the ones in local neighbourhood and response teams, they currently don't have access to TASER devices, because they're only on offer to specialist departments so we would say that wider rollout should start with those frontline officers first.
"The final thing is enhanced training for frontline officers and we'd like to see a two-day training course, with one day refreshing skillsets and the other addressing new tactics, so that they have more confidence in those hands-on situations."
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