PSNI officers expressed opposition and dismay today at plans to introduce of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in the North.
The PSNI said they were not convinced the PCSOs would be immune from paramilitary influence.
The uniformed civilian support staff have already been introduced in England and Wales amid considerable controversy.
After extensive debate in Belfast the Policing Board last night agreed in principle to their recruitment - subject to the vetting criteria for membership being the same as those which govern regular police officers.
Board chairman, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, said were guarding against "any potential for PCSOs to become a route into policing for paramilitaries".
Despite the comments, Irwin Montgomery, chairman of the Police Federation which represents some 7,500 police officers, said they were dismayed at approval in principle being given by the board.
The policing circumstances were not ready for the introduction of PCSOs, he said. "We are not convinced that the PCSOs will be immune from paramilitary influence," he said.
Mr Montgomery added: "Furthermore , when within these last few days a trainee police office's home has been attacked there is a real danger that PCSOs will be targeted by those people who will not give their support to the police under any circumstances."
There was a very real danger of two tier policing being slipped into Northern Ireland when the public was crying out for high visibility professional policing, he added.
PA