Published Thursday, 24 September 2009
The organisation's chairman Terry Spence outlined the severity of the current threat at its annual conference in Belfast on Thursday.
The head of the officers' representative body revealed that army explosives teams had dealt with more than 750 dissident republican bomb alerts in the past two years.
In at least 420 of those incidents a viable device with the potential to kill or injure was discovered.
Mr Spence warned that the PSNI was being "dangerously under-resourced". The force saw its annual £1.2bn budget cut by £71m last year and another £74m will be cut in the coming two years.
The Treasury has also asked the police to identify a further £17m worth of efficiency savings in the current financial year.
"Despite the deteriorating security situation we still have not faced up to the severity of the threat from dissidents."
'Determination to kill'
New PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott and Security Minister Paul Goggins were among guests invited to the La Mon House hotel to hear Mr Spence's stark message.
"Ordinary decent people struggle to comprehend the mentality of these murderous dinosaurs," Mr Spence added.
"But what we do readily understand, and what we cannot mistake, is their utter determination to kill soldiers and police officers, or anyone associated with them in any way."
During a wide ranging address, Mr Spence also criticised the recent decisions to axe the 500-strong Full Time Reserve police unit and sell off 26 stations to private developers.
"We are still in a period when the political future is uncertain, when the terrorist threat is growing rather than diminishing, when loyalist decommissioning looks promising but is incomplete, and when public order is easily broken," he said.
Mr Spence's warning over funding comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Treasury and Stormont ministers about a financial package to accompany the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.