The number of police officers in Scotland has plummeted to its lowest level in 14 years.
Scottish Government figures showed that in the third quarter of 2022 there were 16,570 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers north of the Border.
It's the lowest total since Police Scotland was established in April 2013. The last time figures were this low was in quarter three of 2008, when there were 16,526 officers across the old regional constabularies.
With the current total down by 662 FTE officers since the end of September 2021, the Tories claimed the force was "haemorrhaging officers".
A key SNP manifesto pledge ahead of its Holyrood electoral breakthrough in 2007 was to increase police numbers by 1,000 – at a time when there were 16,234 officers.
Officer numbers increased to more than 17,000 in the first quarter of 2009, peaking at 17,496 in the first quarter of 2013.
But now Police Scotland is warning a “flat cash settlement” for the coming years could mean it either has to freeze pay or cut officer numbers.
The force’s deputy chief officer, David Page, recently told MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee that “very, very difficult decisions” are ahead – with even the future of the 101 non-emergency call service being questioned.
Speaking about the latest police officer statistics, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: “Police Scotland are haemorrhaging officers at a time when the public need them most and have reached yet another record low since the SNP centralised Scotland’s police forces.”
The Tory insisted: “Public safety should be the number one priority for any Government, but the SNP have neglected our police with broken funding promises.
“Sadly, it is ordinary people who will have to pay the price for the SNP’s neglect, as we are already seeing with Scotland’s rising rates of violent crime.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said: “Coming against the backdrop of rising levels of sexual and violent crime, these figures will make for alarming reading.”
He added: "After years of patting themselves on the back over police officer numbers, SNP ministers are now presiding over a hollowing out of our police force.
"The loss of so many skilled and experienced officers is especially concerning.
"All of this is a far-cry from the promises of the SNP’s election campaign to protect policing budgets.
“Ministers need to listen to the concerns of officers and staff and give them the resources necessary to keep communities safe.”
Earlier figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats using Freedom of Information showed that in the past five years more than 800 officers have quit Police Scotland after serving less than a decade with the force.
A total of 847 officers quit before serving 10 years – with 438 serving three years or less.
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