PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde today demanded legislative changes in to stop paramilitary leaders being granted High Court bail in Northern Ireland.
As he marked his first anniversary in charge of the North's police service, Mr Orde also warned that republican groups could be plunged into a feud.
Even though he has scored big successes in his attempt to smash the loyalist paramilitary organisations since he moved to Belfast, the chief constable condemned how quickly some of the key men were let back on the streets.
He said: "One of my frustrations over the year is where we have been successful in taking out what we would describe as major players, some of whom are now serving long-term imprisonment, was the speed they managed to get back, was the speed with which they managed to get bail when charged with very serious criminal offences.
"It may be we need a change in legislation."
Although the Ulster Defence Association, Northern Ireland's biggest loyalist paramilitary organisation, has called a 12-month end to all military operations, Mr Orde said he was sceptical about its motives.
He stressed there was no intelligence warning that the Provisional IRA's ceasefire was about to break down.
He added however, that mainstream republicans still had more to do in order to help drag the Northern Ireland peace process out of crisis.
One of the major threats to peace still came from renegade republican groupings such as the so-called "Real IRA" and Continuity IRA, he said.
With west Belfast man Mr Eddie McGurk having been shot dead by dissidents two weeks ago, fears have heightened that a violent dispute may break out between the Provisionals and republicans who are opposed to the Sinn Fein leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
Mr Orde accepted that there were tense relationships between the different factions and that fall-outs were inevitable.
PA