Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has indicated her party’s opposition to the next Northern Ireland police chief being appointed from within the organisation.
The party president said she did not have confidence in any of the current senior PSNI command team to succeed George Hamilton after he retires in June.
Ms McDonald said the PSNI had "zero credibility" in its handling of cases linked to the legacy of the Troubles.
In response, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland described her comments as "wholly inappropriate and offensive"
The federation’s chairman Mark Lindsay said: "This amounts to extraordinary interference in an open and transparent selection process.
"Sinn Féin's representatives on the Northern Ireland Policing Board will have a role to play in deciding on Mr Hamilton's successor, and to adopt this public position now is wholly inappropriate, offensive and ill-judged.
"Her comments will call into question the objectivity and credibility of Sinn Féin representatives who will be involved in that selection process.
"Her comments have placed her party's representatives on the Policing Board in a difficult position and, in the interests of fairness to senior PSNI officers who might put their names forward for the post, I call on the Sinn Féin President to reflect on her grave miscalculation and apologise."
Ms McDonald made her comments after she met bereaved families caught up in a controversy involving the police's failure to disclosure documents about historic killings to Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman.
After the meeting in Belfast, Ms McDonald was asked if she had confidence in any of the current leadership team to replace Mr Hamilton.
"I don't," she replied.
The Sinn Féin leader added: "Is there somebody inside who I think should be the chief constable, and I have to answer honestly that no, I can't identify such a person.
"Lots of this is about who leads, who is in the top job in policing, but it goes much more broad than that.
"This is an issue of the culture of policing, it's about the systems and it's about their capacity to be and to be held fully accountable."
Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire said "significant, sensitive information" around the incident at a bookmakers in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.
