The number of police officers in Scotland has plummeted to its lowest level in 14 years.

Scottish Government figures showed that in the third quarter of 2022 there were 16,570 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers north of the Border.

It’s the lowest total since Police Scotland was established in April 2013. The last time figures were this low was in quarter three of 2008, when there were 16,526 officers across the old regional constabularies.

With the current total down by 662 FTE officers since the end of September 2021, the Tories claimed the force was “haemorrhaging officers”.

A key SNP manifesto pledge ahead of its Holyrood electoral breakthrough in 2007 was to increase police numbers by 1,000 – at a time when there were 16,234 officers.

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