Civilian staff numbers in Tayside Police continue to fall as the force attempts to slash more than £2 million from its budget.
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill has revealed the force recorded the highest percentage of support staff cuts anywhere in the country.
During 2011 there was an 11% decrease, down from 549 to 489 well ahead of the national average of 6.5%.
Tayside Police has to save £2.27 million from its budget, and estimates the reduction in the number of civilian jobs alone will net £1.7 million.
Around a third of the civilian workforce employed by the soon-to-be-merged police forces are set to lose their jobs.
Tayside Police said all the staff who left did so by their own volition, either by electing to take voluntary early retirement, voluntary redundancy or to leave for other reasons.
A spokesman said: ”Savings in police staff salaries are necessary to operate within the force’s approved budget.
”The budget recently approved for 2012-13 reflects a further 13 staff have applied and been approved for voluntary early retirement or voluntary redundancy.
”The budget assumes a further six staff will elect to leave voluntarily during 2012-13.”
The Scottish Government wants to save £106 million over the next five years through the creation of a single police force.
Critics argue officers will spend less time on the beat and more time behind a desk to fill the positions left by the reduced civilian workforce.
The UK’s largest public sector trade union, Unison, has been an outspoken opponent of the controversial cuts. Its new chair of the local police committee, George McIrvine, reiterated the message that cutting civilian staff makes no sense.
”It simply means that key support and specialised jobs will be carried out by unqualified police officers taken from the public street to balance the books,” he said. ”We know this because it has been happening for over a year.
”We’ve lost 1,000 police staff jobs during that time across Scotland and now in the run-up to the single force, thousands more are under threat.
”The vast majority of politicians accept our argument behind closed doors however, resistance by this government to review police officer numbers that have been based on no scientific fact whatsoever disagree with the trade unions publicly.
”Like everyone, as a taxpayer, I am not receiving best value for my taxes. We need a modern, balanced police team with the right people doing the right jobs for a better, safer Scotland.”
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) estimates it will need to cut 2,000 jobs by 2015-16.
The Scottish Government has ruled out introducing compulsory redundancies to meet this target.
Single forces for Scotland’s police and fire services are expected to begin operating on April 1 next year.