The number of police officers in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years, according to the latest figures.

Labour warned that people’s safety was “at risk” while the Tories called the drop “alarming.”

In the first three months of 2024 there were 16,356 full-time equivalent officers in Scotland, a fall of 259 compared to the same time period in 2023.

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Labour’s Pauline McNeil pointed to recent figures showing violent and sexual crime on the rise in Scotland.

The statistics covering 2023, showed that non-sexual crimes of violence were 4% higher compared to the year ending December 2022, while sexual crimes were 2% higher, The MSP said that since the merger of the eight police services into Police Scotland in 2013, the number of officers had been slashed by 1,140 while around 140 police stations had been closed.

She said: “These deep cuts have laid bare the SNP government’s complete failure to support Scotland’s police officers for over a decade.

"Police officer morale has been devastated by these cuts but all the SNP is offering officers is more of the same.

“It is simply wrong that we now have so many fewer police officers and fewer police stations than when Police Scotland was founded.

"That the police are now being instructed not to investigate certain crimes in parts of Scotland due to cuts beggars belief.

“With violent and sexual crime on the rise, these cuts risk putting people’s safety at risk and undoing decades of hard work by the police.

“The people of Scotland simply cannot trust this SNP government to support our frontline police services.”

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay described the latest officer number figures as “alarming” and said his party is committed to boosting staff levels.

He said: “This latest alarming drop highlights how Police Scotland’s ability to tackle crime is being undermined by the SNP Government.

“Police Scotland had been forced to stop investigating certain crimes, while dealing with a deluge of complaints caused by the SNP’s hate crime law.

“Yet ministers expect falling numbers of officers to do more with less which is unfair and unsustainable. Our party is committed to putting 1,000 more officers on Scotland’s streets.”

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Earlier this year, David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, warned that there was a deluge of officers leaving the force.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Scottish Labour Conference, he said morale among his was “absolutely dreadful at the moment.”

“We know it’s dreadful because police officers are leaving. They are leaving considerably in their droves compared to what they were in previous years.

“They have just had enough.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Officer recruitment was delayed in 2023 to ensure policing was delivered on budget during 2023-24. We restarted officer recruitment in March."

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “Despite deeply challenging financial circumstances, our Budget for 2024-25 includes record police funding of £1.55 billion – an increase of £92.7 million.

“This will enable police Scotland to bring officer numbers up to around 16,500-16,600, starting with the recruitment of almost 200 new officers in March with further recruitment this year.

“Scotland continues to have more police officers per head of population than England and Wales and recorded crime is at one of the lowest levels seen since 1974.”