The First Minister has said she has "full confidence" in Police Scotland's Chief Constable after weeks of controversy surrounding the controversial policy of stop and search.
Nicola Sturgeon was called on to give her public backing to Sir Stephen House during Fist Minister's Questions at Holyrood.
The force has come under fire in recent weeks for its handling of stop-and-search data, particularly relating to statistics on the consensual searches of under-12s.
Labour MSP Elaine Murray asked: "Does the First Minister still have confidence in Chief Constable Sir Stephen House as it has been revealed that Police Scotland data has been lost, wrongly recorded, incorrectly disclosed and now manipulated?"
The First Minister said: "Yes I do, I still have full confidence in Chief Constable Sir Stephen House.
"Stephen House is leading a police force that is helping to ensure that we have low crime levels in this country and I think we should all get behind and express confidence not just in the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, but in all the police officers who work so hard, often putting their lives on the line, for us on a daily basis."
The First Minister also came under pressure over a report in the Sunday Herald that claimed officials and Police Scotland had sought to influence the content and publication of research into the use of stop and search by Kath Murray, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh.
Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes accused the Government of "overstepping the mark" and interfering in academic freedom.
"Government officials and spin doctors persuaded an academic to delay publication of her damning research on stop and search for two days," she said.
"They then embarked on a frantic round of emails and discussions to create a ministerial event designed to rubbish the report ,and they held that in those two days.
"The emails show the First Minister's justice department manipulating all of this."
Ms Sturgeon said that as the research had been co-funded by the Scottish Government, analysts were invited to comment on it and had provided factual feedback on technical issues "in line with standard practice".
She said: "Ms Murray approached Scottish Government officials seeking view on the publication date to avoid scheduling clashes, I understand though that the final date of publication was decided by her."
Ms Sturgeon said she agreed with Ms McInnes that academic freedom was "sacrosanct".
The policy of stop and search is currently under review and the First Minister said a report would be with Justice Secretary Michael Matheson by the end of March.
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