PSNI officers who should still be suspended are back at work due to budget cuts.
Officers still under investigation due to allegations of misconduct have returned to work, the Ballymena Guardian has revealed.
The PSNI confirmed to the paper that some officers have returned to work to perform "restricted duties".
The decision to let officers return was made by Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris.
Editor of the Ballymena Guardian, Jim Flanagan, told BBC Radio Ulster : "These are active investigations.
"They're not concluded so nobody has been, as it were, convicted of anything yet, but nevertheless it does mark a change in policy.
"The interesting thing about it is that they openly concede that they conducted this review as a result of the heavy financial pressure that they're under."
Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray, who is in charge of the Ballymoney area, said: "These restrictions would included minimal public contact and restricted access to public information.
"Any decision to bring a suspended officer back to work in no way minimises the view which the police service takes in regard to the seriousness of the alleged conduct or offences."