Another SNP failure as police numbers at lowest since 2008
Staffing crisis fears after 679 officers quit in one year
THE number of police officers in Scotland has slumped to its lowest level for almost 14 years – with nearly 700 having quit the force in the past year.
Police Scotland had 16,610 officers in its ranks at the end of June, fuelling fears of a manpower crisis.
The number of officers has fallen by 679 from the same time in 2021 – the equivalent of almost two officers leaving the force every day over the past 12 months – according to the latest Scottish Government data.
Opposition leaders last night said the figures were a ‘wake-up call’ that proved the SNP does not consider policing a priority.
In the past three months alone, 195 officers have left the force – with the overall total now at the lowest it has been since the end of September 2008.
The figures came as HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Government should ‘collectively cease to use 17,234 officers as a target and focus instead on developing a workforce based on the skillset and mix required to meet the current and future challenges for policing in Scotland’.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘This exodus of officers from our police force should be a huge wake-up call for the SNP. These 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.
‘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 target of 17,234 officers dates from when the SNP first came to power in 2007, with the party then pledging to increase officer numbers by 1,000 to reach this level.
There were 16,265 officers at the end of June that year, and 17,278 by the end of June 2009, before numbers peaked at 17,496 in March 2013. While they fluctuated after that, they remained above 17,000 until the end of last year.
The number of officers is now at the lowest level since the single national police force was created in April 2013.
Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, said the commitment to having 17,234 officers was ‘a blunt instrument’ which should be replaced by ‘effective workforce planning’.
Data shows 763 police officers plan to retire this year, well above the average of 584 retirals a year recorded over the past five years.
Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone 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 £200million of annual savings compared to legacy arrangements.’
Mr Naylor said the HMICS review had ‘identified some fundamental cultural and strategic issues which must be addressed’ by Police Scotland so the force could ‘deliver a sustainable policing model for the future’.
It said the Cop26 climate change conference and the Covid crisis had ‘facilitated a necessary commitment from the Chief Constable to maintain officer numbers’.
But it said since the 17,234 figure had been removed as a political commitment, there had been a ‘reluctance to make hard choices on the parameters for future workforce change’ by the force.
Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: ‘National police numbers remain higher than at any time during the previous administration. Our officer numbers are also favourable relative to elsewhere in the UK.
‘Officer numbers continue to reflect the impact of Cop26 and Covid restrictions, which reduced capacity to train new recruits at the Scottish Police College.
‘Combined with the impact of recent pension changes, there has been a decrease in officers numbers over the quarter to June 30.’
‘Relations are at rock bottom’