THE chief constable has defended his officers' engagement with the Sinn Féin organisers of Bobby Storey's funeral, saying such discussions are "normal practice".
Simon Byrne also made it clear that he has no plans to step down despite calls from unionists.
The PSNI chief was speaking as DUP leader Arlene Foster said confidence in policing was at an all-time low.
The first minister claimed public adherence to lockdown restrictions was at risk due to damaged confidence in law and order caused by a failure to prosecute Sinn Féin leaders who attended last June's funeral while pandemic restrictions were in place.
As well as reiterating her demand for the chief constable to quit, she suggested Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Herron should also consider his position.
Mrs Foster also refused to rule out withdrawing the DUP's four MLAs from the Policing Board if Mr Byrne continued in his job.
Her remarks came ahead of today's emergency assembly sitting to debate an SDLP motion calling for Sinn Féin ministers to be censured.
The chief constable had been due to appear at a public session of the Policing Board this afternoon but will now only take part in a private morning meeting due to the clash with the assembly debate.
Alliance MLA and Policing Board member John Blair called for the public session to be rescheduled for later today, saying it was important to "ensure this integral part of the police accountability structures continues to happen".
The DUP had raised the possibility of a tabling a formal motion of no confidence in the chief constable at that meeting but such a move would require 10 days' notice.
Even if the party does table a motion in future it is unlikely to win majority support among the board's 19 members.
Mrs Foster has claimed the PSNI's involvement with the funeral planners should be a resigning matter for all senior officers involved, particularly Mr Byrne.
"If people want to ignore that there's a crisis in policing, if Simon just thinks that he can buckle down and keep this job, continue to do what he's doing, that of course is a matter for him but he will not have the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in doing that," she told the BBC.
"We are the largest party within Northern Ireland and I think he needs to reflect on that this morning."
She said her party was considering withdrawing from the Policing Board, while the DUP has also written to the Police Ombudsman asking it to examine the episode.
Sinn Féin MP John Finucane, who was among 24 party members interviewed by police, acknowledged that mistakes were made in the staging of the funeral.
But he insisted the party's apology was not a "half apology" and said Sinn Féin recognised the wider public mood about the events of June 30.
"We have apologised for the hurt that was caused and hurt isn't caused unless mistakes were made, so I accept that," he said.
"Mistakes were made and I think that's very clear, and I think that there are those who will struggle to accept our apology for that, and I totally understand that."
Mr Byrne had earlier defended his officer's actions, saying the PSNI would have criticised it not engaged with the funeral organisers.
"The critical thing to remember here that when you look at the findings from the Director of Public Prosecutions, he is really clear that actually regardless of what we did or didn't do, which we still stand behind, was the fact that on the day the law was confusing and inconsistent, and that inhibited his ability to bring a prosecution," he said.
