Police officers and staff across Scotland do a vital job keeping our communities safe, often in challenging circumstances.

We are committed to supporting this crucial service, and ensuring our police workforce is well-equipped to deal with emerging threats and future needs.

Actions

We are building on reforms already delivered to Scottish policing by:

We are also:

Background

Police Scotland is the single service responsible for policing in Scotland.

It is held to account by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) which is accountable to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament.

The SPA is also responsible for the management and delivery of forensic services and independent custody visiting in Scotland.

We set the strategic police priorities, which are supported by the Scottish Police Authority's strategic police plan and Police Scotland's annual plan.

Statistics

The police officer quarterly strength statistics provide quarterly updates on the number of police officers employed by Police Scotland.

Bills and legislation

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 provides the statutory basis for policing in Scotland.

It brought together 10 police organisations into a single police service.

The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 modernised the arrest and custody procedures and provisions for people coming into police custody.

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Bill puts in place new oversight arrangements for the collection, use, retention and disposal of biometric data for criminal justice purposes, through the creation of a new parliamentary commissioner.

Archive content

You can access police content that was previously on the www2.gov.scot site at the gov.scot archive.

Contact

Police Division
Scottish Government
1st Floor Rear
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Tel: 03002444000

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