Attacks on PSNI 'need to be taken seriously'
Figures revealed by the union that represents rank and file PSNI officers show nine police officers in Northern Ireland report being assaulted every day.
The actual figure, however, is believed to be much higher.
Some 78 PSNI officers were injured in rioting during the past week and a half.
Two PSNI officers have spoken of their personal experience of being assaulted.
Inspector Róisín Brown has been a police officer for around five years.
She was attacked by a drunken 17-year-old male after he was removed from a concert at a west Belfast festival last August for being violent.
The officer was alone at the gate of the Falls Park and tried to prevent him assaulting people outside when she became his target.
"In a split second he hit me, really hard, just to the left of the cheekbone and knocked me unconscious," she recalls.
"Luckly it wasn't fractured, but there was deep tissue damage to it, quite a lot of bruising and it had moved some of my teeth, so it was very sore for a long time afterwards and I had post-concussion syndrome which meant that my memory was affected. I was quite disorganised.
"I was actually very worried after, thinking that there was something wrong with me and I went to my GP and he told my you've got post-concussion syndrome which is affecting basically how your brain functions. It was essentially a temporary brain injury."
Watch: PSNI inspector describes attack on her last year
The inspector was back on duty after three weeks, despite her GP warning that the concussion symptoms could last for a few weeks.
"I knew that I wasn't ready to go back to work after three weeks but I went back anyway because, it probably sounds like a strange thing to say, but I felt guilty about leaving my colleagues out in the middle of what was serious, sustained disorder last summer.
"I felt quite guilty about being off even though I was seriously injured and I know a lot of police officers who felt that way."
The attacker was given 100 hours of community service and probation.
They did not spend any time in jail.
Inspector Brown supports calls for tougher sentences for those who attack members of the emergency services.
"It needs to be taken seriously and there needs to be outcomes and consequences for attacking police officers when they're on duty."
Tougher sentences needed, says sergeant
Sergeant Mark Brown has been assaulted many times during his 28 years in the police service.
"It now seems to be a daily occurrence for police officers, it's viewed as routine that officers are assaulted," he said.
The most serious incident was in the custody suite at Strabane Police Station on Mother's Day last year.
He and a female colleague went to a cell to intervene to prevent a man trying to harm himself.
"My female colleague was punched to the face on one occasion so hard that it actually put her out of the cell," he explained.
"He then started punching me to the head, between 14 and 15 times to the head, all over the head and I was kneed twice to the left side of the head which rendered me slightly dazed and confused and in that dazed confused state he calmly walked out of the cell and slammed the cell door, leaving me trapped inside."
Sergeant Young sustained severe bruising to his head and face, which shocked his wife and young children when he got home.
"When I went home that morning my wife immediately burst into tears, and my children couldn't understand what had happened to me, seeing my face black and blue," he said.
Sergeant Young was back on duty after a week, despite advice from his GP that he should take a longer period of sick leave.
His attacker was sentenced to 240 hours of community service, a sentence which is now being reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service after a request from the Police Federation which described it as unduly lenient.
The officer also believes there needs to be greater deterrent in the form of tougher sentences for those who assault police or members of other frontline emergency services.
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