In the SNP's manifesto for the May election, "putting more police on to local streets with a more visible police presence" was a priority. Addressing the Scottish Police Federation's annual conference, Alex Salmond was more specific. Under questioning from an audience trained to pin down evasion, he spelled out how the pledges would be put into practice and said that £78m would be made available if required to provide 1000 new police officers. Six months on, it appears that Scotland's eight police forces will not increase in strength from 16,200 to 17,200, but that the commitment will be met by springing IT specialists from their desks and enabling beat patrols to use hand-held computers.

In the SNP's manifesto for the May election, "putting more police on to local streets with a more visible police presence" was a priority. Addressing the Scottish Police Federation's annual conference, Alex Salmond was more specific. Under questioning from an audience trained to pin down evasion, he spelled out how the pledges would be put into practice and said that £78m would be made available if required to provide 1000 new police officers. Six months on, it appears that Scotland's eight police forces will not increase in strength from 16,200 to 17,200, but that the commitment will be met by springing IT specialists from their desks and enabling beat patrols to use hand-held computers.

A more obvious police presence does result in a reduction in crime: it was an unexpected side-effect of highly-visible policing during the previous foot-and-mouth epidemic. If the plans can achieve that outcome they will merit a welcome. But it is not the same as an extra 1000 officers available for duty. The SNP Government will point out that the extra numbers are to be recruited and deployed over the course of their four-year term.

This underlines the urgency of the situation because it is over the next four years that the Scottish police forces face the unprecedented prospect of 2000 officers becoming eligible for retirement. This potential crisis is the result of a recruitment surge in the 1970s and 1980s combined with a pension package that makes it possible to retire after 30 years' service. With 500 officers able to retire in 2009, any plans for redeployment must address retaining this bank of valuable experience as well as attracting new recruits (the number of pensioners on the retirement payroll already exceeds Scotland's current police strength).

Centralising some services to avoid duplication is a step Scotland's eight police forces should take. Cutting down on paperwork, provided the new technology is reliable and efffective, is also desirable. There is, however, another important consideration: older officers are not always keen to return to the beat and do shift work. Making officers more visible on our streets can reassure the public, build good relationships with communities and deter crime, but it cannot succeed if it has the unintended consequence of pushing the most experienced officers into early retirement.

When Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, announces a new drive on recruitment, retention and new technology next month, he must know that retention is likely to be the hardest to achieve. Having just accused the Chancellor and the Prime Minister of "jiggery-pokery" over Scotland's slice of the comprehensive-spending-review cake, Mr Salmond will appreciate the need for clarity over where the extra 1000 police officers are coming from and how they are to be funded.