More than one in 10 Scottish police superintendents and chief superintendents say they are bullied by their bosses.
A new survey finds growing concern among the ranks of Scotland's frontline operational leaders over the way they are managed under the still relatively new single force.
Carried out by the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, the study underlined what some critics have described as a culture of targets and long hours.
ASPS found 11% of supers and chief supers felt bullied, including being intimidated, unfairly criticised or verbally insulted, up from a year before.
However, far more - as many as 85% - felt supported by their managers. Fully 94% of those surveyed felt performance targets were "top priority".
Police supers in England and Wales recently reported similar strains. A total of 124 of Scotland's 190 supers and chief supers took part in the survey, which was completed in May.
Chief Superintendent Niven Rennie, president of the ASPS, speaking in Police Oracle magazine, said: "There are cultural issues.
"It has become apparent that some of our members are not speaking out for fear that it might adversely affect their career prospects.
"Whether it is an actual or a perceived problem is not clear but it is more apparent there are a number of issues affecting superintendents and I don't know if this is being given the right level of priority. We intend to give it the priority it needs.
"The most worrying thing for me is that the results are the same. While I do not expect everything to be resolved in a year I want to see some significant improvement."
Only a quarter of supers and chief supers, according to the survey, took their full annual leave, while only 21% have taken all their rest days.
ASPS members, however, did say that their superiors, such as the chief officers, worked even harder. Some 97% of those surveyed said they believed their managers worked long hours, and 61% said their line manager tried to stop pressure being passed down to their teams.
But 57% - more than half - said senior management's approach to managing performance was "harsh and unhelpful".
Mr Rennie said: "The numbers of people at higher rank have reduced but the work does not go away - it is just separated out.
"Some of my colleagues are carrying a heavy burden. They are responding to dynamic and very traumatic events and these people are carrying a huge burden from an emotional point of view.
"It is not just the long hours of work that affect them."
Mr Rennie, speaking to The Herald, added: "There are clearly issues which are required to be addressed and this should be a priority for Police Scotland.
"We are disappointed by the lack of progress since this survey was produced in May."
Carol Forfar, general secretary of the Association, said: "It is disappointing that the previous figures relating to bullying by both chief officers and senior managers shows a worrying increase. We need to guard against this culture developing into the organisational norm."
Police Scotland said it would respond to the findings later.
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