'Eight out of 10 police officers' attacked last year
Eight out of 10 police officers reported being attacked last year, according to the Police Federation of Northern Ireland.
The Federation met recently for its annual conference and revealed the results of its survey.
On top of those figures, 91% of officers said they were victims of unarmed physical assaults, including wrestling, hitting and kicking.
Chairman Mark Lindsay led the call for mandatory jail sentences for those found guilty of attacking officers.
"Particularly raised was the issue of spitting, which is a vile and obnoxious act, and one that our officers are subjected to on the streets and in our custody suites," he said.
"We have ha d an average of over 3,000 assaults on officers over the past four years.
"We're now seeing, following our own survey, the effect this is having on officers and the almost acceptance of society and the courts that it's almost par for the course, when it's anything but that."
He also raised the issue of austerity and the impact it is having on policing budgets, with a ÂŁ20m already cut from this year's budget.
"We've seen officer stress levels and mental health issues rise quite significantly over the past few years," he said.
"Policing is the last resort, it's the emergency service that everyone else resorts to whenever their own reaches capacity.
"Unfortunately, there is no cap on that, whenever we are having the social services, the trusts, the PPS, all coming in with levels of work that are directed towards the police service."