Police officer numbers at lowest since early 2009
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Liam McArthur
The number of police officers has fallen to its lowest level since the start of 2009, new figures published by Scotland’s chief statistician show.
The figures reveal that there were 17,147 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 30 September 2018.
Commenting on the figures, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “Police officer numbers are at their lowest in almost a decade. However, these statistics only tell half the story.
“They fail to take into account the fact that around 2,000 skilled civilian staff were lost in the SNP’s centralisation and officers had to cover for them.
“Police officers, staff and the public need to know where they stand. Instead, the SNP government couldn’t even be straight about dropping its flagship target.
“Liberal Democrats demand better. Police Scotland and the SPA need to listen to staff and act on their concerns, starting with conducting the overdue service-wide survey.”
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