Police Scotland faces a staffing crisis after 1000 frontline officers quit over 10-month period this year.
Police leaders have blamed the mass exodus on low morale caused by growing workloads and lack of job satisfaction. Opposition politicians have warned public safety will be at risk.
Scotland now has its lowest number of officers in 14 years and 700 below the figure committed to by the Scottish Government when the national force was created in 2013. Scottish Police Federation deputy general secretary David Kennedy said officers were desperate to leave and take their pensions, where in the past they would have been happy to work on.
