Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 31 March 2022

Statistics on police officer quarterly strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland.


Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland.

The key findings of the statistics are:

  • There were 16,805 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2022
  • Police officer numbers decreased by 312 FTE officers (-1.8%) in the last quarter from 31 December 2021
  • Police officer numbers decreased by 479 FTE officers (-2.8%) in the last year from 31 March 2021
  • This is an increase of 571 FTE police officers (+3.5%) from the 16,234 FTE police officers recorded at 31 March 2007

Shows number of full time police officers employed since 2007 and demonstrates an overall increase since 2007 of 3.5%The statistics in this release are based upon quarterly returns made by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government, and are a by-product of live administrative processes, generated directly from the HR systems. The data return provides a snapshot of police strength at the end of the quarter. The published police officer figures are sourced from Police Scotland’s personnel records and as such the quality and reliability is good.

The next edition in the series, Police Officer Quarterly Strength Scotland, 30 June 2022, will be published on Tuesday 2 August 2022.

Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 31 March 2022
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