POLICE numbers are at their lowest level for nearly 14 years – with more than 700 offices quitting the job 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 its creation in 2013.
The Scottish Government’s latest figures 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, the number has fallen by 195 officers – with the overall total now at the lowest it has been since the end of September 2008.
It comes after a new report recommended the force stop trying to stick to a 15-year-old target of maintaining 17,234 police officers in Scotland.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s report recommended the Scottish Government and police authorities ditch the figure in favour of working with existing numbers and “developing a workforce based on the skillset and mix required to meet the current and future challenges for policing in Scotland”.
The target of having 17,234 officers comes 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.
Officer numbers were 16,265 at the end of June that year, but had risen to 17,278 by the end of June 2009, before peaking at 17,496 at the end of March 2013.
While they fluctuated after that, they remained above 17,000 until the end of last year.
Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, said the commitment to having 17,234 officers was “a blunt instrument” and added that this target should be replaced by “effective workforce planning should replace it”.
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 retirals recorded over each year for the last five years.
Police Scotland recently launched a recruitment campaign, with Chief Constable Iain Livingstone saying he wants to “encourage everybody to consider a career in policing”.
Commenting on the latest figures, Livingston 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.”
He added: “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.”
The Chief Constable’s comments came as the police inspectorate review found “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 that both the Cop26 climate change conference and the Covid crisis had “facilitated a necessary commitment from the chief constable to maintain officer numbers”.
But with officer numbers falling, the Tories accused the SNP of having “created a crisis in policing”.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Jamie Greene 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.”
