The PSNI chief constable has claimed public inquiries into controversial murders in the North could undermining confidence in his force.
Mr Hugh Orde said communities must not assume the cases reflected the current state of policing in Northern Ireland.
The inquiries were ordered after the long-awaited publication of reports yesterday by retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory on security force involvement or inaction over the four murders.
Judge Cory was appointed in 2001 by the British government to look into the cases and has recommended public inquiries into the murders of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson, LVF leader Billy Wright and Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill.
Mr Orde said it was important to draw a line under the cases while understanding what went wrong. But he warned: "Confidence in current policing is damaged by historic cases."
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Todayprogramme, he said: "Communities will judge us on what we do currently. There is a clear need to understand the past."
The cases dealt with in the Cory report deal with the 1989-1999 period.
He pledged his force would co-operate with the inquiries, but he said there were more than 1,800 other unsolved murders in Northern Ireland.