The most senior garda in the north-west is hopeful Leitrim will be "substantially unchanged as a policing entity" as the new policing plan begins to impact local services.
Chief Superintendent Aidan Glacken has revealed that he expects a community engagement Superintendent to be retained for the county under the new plan which sees Sligo-Leitrim aligned with Donegal.
However he warned the decision will ultimately be made by the Garda Commissioner.
Plans to make significant changes to the gardai and its policing model were revealed in 2019 by Commissioner Drew Harris.
The new model has already begin to take effect in Roscommon -Longford-Mayo as well as the Cavan-Monaghan Division which is now working with Louth and sees Sligo-Leitrim merge with Donegal.
In the north-west current garda districts, such as Sligo, Leitrim and Ballymote will be added to the four presently in Donegal and will be managed by Superintendents across Community Engagement, Crime, Business Services and Performance Assurance across the three counties.
Chief Superintendent Glacken claimed that the Divisional Headquarters for his current role in Sligo is moving to Letterkenny, and he feels it is "unlikely" that he will continue in the position as it is currently formulated after that change.
Today's meeting of the Leitrim JPC also heard that a new Superintendent for Leitrim is to be appointed in the coming weeks with Mandy Gaynor moving to Sligo at the end of this week.
She was appointed in July, and will be replaced by Padraig Jones as Superintendent based in Carrick-on-Shannon.
