RCMP say an Inuvik man who punched one police officer in the face and spat blood at another got off too easy when he was sentenced in Yellownkife last week.
Verne Firth-Cardinal was initially facing five charges stemming from an incident two months ago in Inuvik.
He was facing two charges of assaulting police, and also accused of threatening to burn down one officer's house, threatening to kill one man and harm another, and being in someone's home with the intent to commit a crime.
In a deal reached with the Crown, Firth-Cardinal pleaded guilty to one charge of uttering threats and one of assaulting a police officer.
The prosecutor agreed to combine the two assault charges into one, and go the less serious route of summary conviction, instead of indictment. That meant the most the judge could sentence the 45-year-old man for the assaults was six months.
"It doesn't speak very well to the public," said RCMP Sgt. Ken Morrison. "It shows that assaulting a police officer, in my mind, from this sentence, is not really much concern. At the end of the day, you get sentenced to six months, you serve one third of your time, so [it's] two months in custody for assaulting a police officer."
Firth-Cardinal has five previous convictions for assaulting a peace officer and one manslaughter conviction.
Morrison said the deal is "demoralizing in a lot of ways" for officers.
He says police are given the message that being assaulted is "just part of the job."