Police Officer Quarterly Strength

The first publication of Police Officer Quarterly Strength statistics as Official Statistics was on 2 December 2008. Prior to this publication, figures were collated by the Scottish Government and released through responses to Parliamentary Questions and by depositing the figures in the Scottish Parliamentary Library.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 created Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), which came into being on 1 April 2013. The statistics in this release are based upon quarterly returns made by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government, and are a by-product of administrative processes, generated directly from the HR systems. The published police officer figures are sourced from Police Scotland’s personnel records and as such the quality and reliability is good.

Figures include all police officers appointed by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland and senior police officers appointed by the Scottish Police Authority, excluding those on career breaks. Deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

The following definitions apply to police officers in Scotland. These statistics include all officers deployed with the 13 local policing divisions, specialist and operational support, central functions, officers undertaking Scottish Police College training, long-term sick leave and maternity/adoption leave, officers at ports and airports paid either wholly or partially by the port/airport authority. Additional officers either wholly or partially funded by the local authority or an external body, and all officers otherwise seconded to Scottish Government, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS), Scottish Police Authority and elsewhere.

These figures do not include police officers employed in Scotland by the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police or the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Police Scotland publish a geographical break down of police officers on the Police Scotland website.

Further information on Crime and Justice statistics within Scotland can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.

Data og ressurser

Tilleggsinformasjon

Felt Verdi
Forfatter Scottish Government
Vedlikeholdes av Scottish Government
Sist oppdatert mars 18, 2025, 09:38 (UTC)
Opprettet februar 14, 2025, 09:26 (UTC)
Accessibility and Clarity Information is presented as total count (Full-Time Equivalent) of police officers at a national (Scotland) level on a quarterly basis.
Accuracy and Reliability The statistics in this release are based upon quarterly returns made by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government, and are a by-product of administrative processes, generated directly from the HR systems. The published police officer figures are sourced from Police Scotland’s personnel records and as such the quality, and reliability, is good.
Coherence and Comparability The first Police Officer Quarterly Strength bulletin was published on 2 December 2008, containing data as at 30 September 2008, and has been published every quarter since. Please note that changes over time should be calculated on unrounded figures.
Confidentiality Policy This dataset does not contain any sensitive or personal information.
Quality Management Police Scotland complete regular quality assurance checks of their HR systems. Each business area, has a responsibility to review the quality of data they enter and hold on the HR and Duty Management System. Data anomaly checks are carried out centrally, using both manual investigation and automated scripting. These checks use data field value comparisons to establish inconsistencies. The frequency of these checks are predominantly monthly, quarterly, or on demand. Where anomalies are established, they are reported to the relevant business area for investigation and rectification. Police Scotland Resource Planning & Co-ordination provide quality assurance of the HR and Duty Management System data relating to both officers and staff. Internal manuals of guidance have been developed for both officers and staff, providing instruction and process for the completion of quality assurance tasks on a weekly basis. This allows the provision of management information at an executive level of the Force and external reporting of statistics to the Scottish Government.
Relevans The statistics in this release provide the official count (Full-Time Equivalent) of police officers in Scotland. Police Scotland publishes a geographical breakdown of police officer numbers on the Police Scotland website.
Revisions Revisions and corrections to this publication are dealt with in accordance with the Scottish Government published policy.
Timeliness and Punctuality The statistical bulletin is normally published the first Tuesday of the middle month of the following quarter (February, May, August, November). For example, the bulletin with police officer figures on 31 March is normally published on the first Tuesday in May.
headline Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland at the end of each respective quarter.