Police officers could vote to overturn 86-year-old rules which stop them going on strike.
Members of the Police Federation will discuss the move at their annual conference in Blackpool this week.
Federation leaders are considering whether to become affiliated as a proper trade union – giving them the right to strike for the first time.
Police Federation chairwoman, Jan Berry, said: “It would be wrong of us not to review it. It is one of the discussions that needs to take place.”
But she insisted she did not detect any sudden demand for the ability to strike among members.
“It may be that people say we need to be apolitical, and not strike. It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be a fine balance,” she said. “We are not inundated with people coming to us to say, ‘We want to be unionised – we don’t think it’s working as a federation’.
“But if officers don’t feel they are receiving the protection they need to carry out their duties, then we may need to revise what the working conditions for police officers are.”
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