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Police officer quarterly strength statistics
02/12/2008
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which give the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by the eight Scottish police forces.
Although data on police officer numbers has previously been available, this publication is the first of a new statistical series, and provides quarterly data on police officer numbers from September 2003 onwards.
The key findings of the statistics are:
- There were 16,526 police officers (full-time equivalent) in Scotland on September 30, 2008, the highest level ever recorded
- Police officer numbers have increased by 188 full-time equivalent (FTE) officers (+1.1 per cent) in the last quarter, from June 30, 2008, and by 220 (+1.4 per cent) in the last year, from September 30, 2007
Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.
This is the first publication of police quarterly strength statistics as Official Statistics. Prior to this publication figures were collated by the Scottish Government and released through responses to Parliamentary Questions and by depositing the figures in the Scottish Parliamentary Library.
The statistics in this release are based upon quarterly returns made by Scottish police forces to the Scottish Government.
Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.