A packet processing device includes a control logic processor for filtering packets according to a set of stored rules and an arithmetic logic processor for executing packet processing instructions based on the content of the packet. The control logic processor spawns a new thread for each incoming packet, relieving the arithmetic logic processor of the need to do so. The control logic processor and the arithmetic logic processor preferably are integrated via a thread queue. The control logic processor preferably assigns a policy to each incoming packet. A policy action table stores one or more policy instructions which may be easily changed to update policies to be implemented. The policy action table preferably maps a virtual packet flow identification code to the physical memory address of an action code and a state block associated to the identification code. The arithmetic logic processor processes a packet based on the stored policy assigned to that packet.