The PSNI has clarified why officers who are suspended while being investigated for misconduct receive full pay.
It comes after a BBC Spotlight NI programme revealed two officers had been suspended for three years while being investigated over allegations they moved a suicide victim's body into poses for photos.
One of the officers has received full pay for that period of suspension.
Read more: PSNI dismiss 11 officers this year amid 130 gross misconduct cases
The PSNI has laid out why they are unable to suspend pay while an officer is subject to investigation.
Chief Constable Simon Byrne acknowledged people's strength of feeling particularly in relation to the most recent allegations, but said he has to factor in employment law considerations.
"I think people feel sometimes it's incredulous that we don't act more quickly, but suspension is a neutral act in in employment terms," he told the Policing Board on Thursday.
"We do have to abide by employment law because at time when we don't, or are perceived not to, people also seek legal remedy.
"So we're sometimes caught between a rock and a hard place in trying to get that right."
Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton has oversight for those cases where officers are accused of gross misconduct.
He explained that there are only a few options open to police to deal with these sorts of allegations.
"The conduct regulations don't allow for suspension without pay," he said.
"If gross misconduct has been assessed by the appropriate authority and this is very highly regulated, then I have to make a consideration around one of three things.
"One is to leave the officer in the post that they are currently carrying out.
"Quite often to do that, we would argue it would undermine public confidence and also might allow a furtherance of behaviour.
"It could also expose the officer to more allegations as well.
"So the next consideration then is suspension or repositioning and repositioning is as an alternative to suspension.
"In looking at suspension, you look at the seriousness of the offence, then we have to consider whether or not repositioning is appropriate.
"It would normally mean that we would place an officer still at work but in a place where we feel that there is no chance that they could interfere with witnesses, internal or external, where they could access police systems around their case, or they could carry out a furtherance of the behaviour for which they are under investigation.
"If we're satisfied that those things can be managed, then they may well be repositioned.
"If I'm not satisfied, I then move to the public interest test, is it in the public interest to remove this person from the office of constable?
"Suspension from the office of constable removes from you the powers of a constable, removes from you the access to the police station.
"You are suspended from the office but you are still an employee to the Chief Constable, you are still bound by the code of ethics, you are still paid as an employee and that's the regulations we have to work within."
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