A final decision on whether to cut policing staff in Northern Ireland by 1,600 could be taken today.
Chief Constable Hugh Orde is meeting his senior command team in a bid to resolve the fiercely contested future of his full-time reserve.
Although the Patten blueprint for transforming the overwhelmingly Protestant force recommended the unit should be phased out, unionists have waged an intense campaign to save the men and women under threat. But nationalists, who want a complete overhaul of the police service, insist it must go.
Lucrative severance packages could run into tens of millions of pounds if Mr Orde considers the security situation can cope with phasing out the full-time reserves.
But he may well decide on some form of compromise in an attempt to fend off a major row on the hugely emotive issue.
Sources who have spoken to the Chief Constable about his plans believe he will pull back from a complete disbandment.
Democratic Unionist leader Rev Ian Paisley led a party delegation to meet Mr Orde at police headquarters in Belfast yesterday to warn him it would be a mistake to scrap so many officers.
The North Antrim MP said afterwards: "I believe he still has to make his decision, and I believe he is finding great difficulty because, as I have said, the constabulary inspector came down on our side on this issue."
Even though the senior command team hopes to thrash out the main sticking points, it could be tomorrow before Mr Orde makes up his mind. He will then brief members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday before the outcome is made public.