THE PSNI is forced to deal with 17 crimes every hour over the Twelfth period - including assaults on officers, criminal damage and threats to kill.
Detailed police records obtained by The Irish News reveal the scale of offences recorded over the past six years.
In some years officers on duty over the Twelfth have had to tackle nearly double the average daily number of crimes.
Almost 3,500 offences were reported between 2009 and last year.
The majority were assaults, including almost 200 attacks on PSNI officers.
Last year the number of offences during the Twelfth celebrations reached a three-year high at more than 620.
Responding to a freedom of information request, police said they received reports of 3,480 offences between 6pm on the Eleventh night to 6am on July 13 over the years 2009 to 2014.
However, the PSNI was unable to say how many of the offences related specifically to events held to celebrate the Twelfth such as parades or bonfires.
Most offences were reported in the Belfast area with over 1,150 recorded, followed by Derry at 206, Ballymena at 144, Newtownabbey at 127 and Craigavon at 116.
Assaults made up more than two-fifths of all crimes with almost 1,500 reported to police.
More than 880 cases of criminal damage and 663 theft offences including robberies and burglaries were also recorded.
Officers also received more than 40 reports of sexual offences and 82 threats to kill.
More than 400 crimes were recorded on July 12 each year on average – almost 45 per cent more than the daily average of 281 during 2013/14.
The largest number of Twelfth offences over the past six years happened in 2010 with a total of 460 recorded.
The figures emerge amid continued concerns over the impact of parades disputes on the resources of police and other emergency services.
More than £26,000 is being spent per day on policing the Twaddell protest camp in north Belfast.
This year the PSNI placed more than 3,000 officers on duty at Orange Order parades across the north.
-----------------
Twelfth crimes
Number of offences recorded by police between 6pm on the Eleventh night to 6am on July 13 in the years 2009-14
2009 – 458
2010 – 597
2011 – 651
2012 – 558
2013 – 592
2014 – 624
Total – 3,480
Twelfth crimes by type
Criminal damage – 881
Assault with injury – 849
Theft – 397
Assault without injury – 352
Burglary – 218
Assault without injury on a constable – 199
Public order offences – 99
Drug offences – 89
Assault with intent to cause serious harm – 86
Threats to kill – 82
Robbery – 48
Sexual offence – 42
Miscellaneous crimes against society – 40
Harassment – 36
Possession of weapons offences – 29
Other violence against the person – 18
Other fraud – 15
