Contrary to media scare stories, 220 new police officers in the last quarter and 193 more than when Labour left office in 2007 for less crime and with more staff

By Professor John Robertson OBA

The cringe ‘Scottish’ media is full of fake news on police officer numbers at the moment.

The true facts are, from open, transparent, official, checkable statistics, in Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 30 September 2024, published today is:

Police officer numbers increased by 220 FTE officers (+1.4%) in the last quarter from 30 June 2024

This is an increase of 193 FTE police officers (+1.2%) from the 16,234 FTE police officers recorded at 31 March 2007

https://www.gov.scot/publications/police-officer-quarterly-strength-statistics-30-september-2024/

From indeed, the Scottish average salary is £40 926 and the English average is £34 807 making the average Scottish police officer £6 000, 15%, better off.1, 2

Starting salaries?

Scotland – £30 039.3

England? Between £28,551 and £29,907.4

Crime rate?

Scotland – 55 crimes per 1 000 people

England – 89.7

Staffing to deal with crime?

Scotland – 316 officers per 100 000 people.

England – 228.

So, Scotland is 27.8% better staffed.

Sources:

  1. https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/Police-Scotland/salaries/Police-Officer
  2. https://uk.indeed.com/career/police-officer/salaries
  3. https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/finance/pay-and-grading-structure/
  4. https://careers.northumbria.police.uk/police-officer/benefits/#:~:text=With%20a%20top%20salary%20of,Superintendent%20%C2%A399%2C612%20%E2%80%93%20%C2%A3111%2C117
  5. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/#:~:text=The%20crime%20rate%20in%20the,just%2052.3%20by%202021/22.
  6. https://policeprofessional.com/news/england-and-wales-have-fewer-police-officers-than-any-major-european-nation/

Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/

The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116

About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brown_(Scottish_activis

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