Police numbers in Scotland have hit their lowest level in almost 14 years, figures showed - with almost 700 officers having quit the force in the last year alone.
Police Scotland had 16,610 full time equivalent (FTE) officers in its ranks at the end of June 2022 - the lowest number since the creation of the single national police force.
The latest figures, published by the Scottish Government, showed the number of FTE officers has fallen by 679 from the same time the previous year - the equivalent of almost two officers leaving the force a day over the last 12 months.
In the last three months alone, the number has fallen by 195 FTE officers - with the overall total now at the lowest it has been since the end of September 2008.
The Tories said the latest figures showed the SNP had "created a crisis in policing".
Jamie Greene, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: "This exodus of officers from our police force should be a huge wake-up call for the SNP.
"These latest figures show a drop of more than 600 officers in less than a year, highlighting that policing is no longer an SNP Government priority - as the chief constable of Police Scotland has said himself.
"What's worse, relations between police officers and the SNP Government are at rock bottom due to derisory pay offers which have led the police to take industrial action despite their limited legal powers to do so.
"The SNP have further insulted the police by failing to deliver on their previous promises about protecting police funding and officer numbers, and it is public safety that will suffer as a result.
"The SNP have created a crisis in policing - they need to fix this mess or risk crime rates spiralling out of control."
The SNP came to power in Scotland in 2007 with a pledge to increase the number of officers by 1,000 - taking the total number of police from 16,265 FTE officers at the end of June that year to 17,278 FTE by the end of June 2009.
Officer numbers then peaked at 17,496 at the end of March 2013, and while they have fluctuated after that, they remained above 17,000 until the end of last year.
At the end of December 2021, the figures showed 17,117 FTE officers among Police Scotland's ranks, with this then falling to 16,805 FTE at the end of March this year, before the latest decrease.
The latest figures on officer numbers come after data released under Freedom of Information revealed that 763 Scottish police officers plan to retire this year, well above the average of 584 re-tirals recorded over each year for the last five years.
Police Scotland recently launched a recruitment campaign, with Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone saying he wants to "encourage everybody to consider a career in policing".
Livingstone said: "Officer numbers are lower as a result of restricted recruitment because of Covid, the Cop26 climate change summit, and increased retirals resulting from changes to pension arrangements.
"We are recruiting and I welcomed 300 new probationary constables last week."
But he also said: "I have been clear the funding arrangements set out in the Scottish Government's spending review, if progressed, will mean difficult decisions for policing in Scotland - for example, a far smaller workforce.
"Workforce planning can assist in understanding how to best meet the increasingly complex policing needs of our communities.
"But this will be a challenge, particularly as policing in Scotland already delivers around £200 million of annual savings compared to legacy arrangements."
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