An extra 300 special officers have been drafted in each month to help police in Fife deal with cases, including the Mikaeel Kular investigation and missing people searches.
With the region’s police requiring assistance from specialist teams including search helicopters and diving experts, hundreds of additional officers have been brought from other areas to assist.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House said the resources were able to be deployed quickly because of the new single force.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Scottish Police Authority, Fife’s divisional commander Chief Superintendent Garry McEwan revealed that an additional 24,000 hours of additional police time had been called on since the start of the financial year.
He said: “We’ve had an extra 300 special officers coming into Fife to support local policing and, for me, that’s a real win.”
The search for three-year-old Mikaeel Kular ended in tragedy when his body was found in woodland in Kirkcaldy in January.His mother, Rosdeep Adekayo, has been charged with his murder.
There have been a number of high-profile missing person searches in Fife, including the ongoing effort to find Glenrothes man Allan Bryant.
Mr McEwan said there was “a lot of crime” in Fife owing to high levels of deprivation. Despite this, he said, statistics were encouraging.
“I’m very proud of what police officers in Fife have done. Serious assaults have reduced, robberies have reduced and anti-social behaviour has reduced,” he said.
Mr House said Police Scotland was also able to deploy special resources to the Edinburgh side of the Mikaeel Kular investigation.
“A significant amount of help was available,” he said.
“It is easier to do that because we have a single organisation. We have a reach and depth across Scotland which no independent force could manage. On any day of the week, there are special resources available in every one of the 14 divisions across Scotland.”
Police Scotland also outlined its budget position.
There were overspends in forensic services and information and communications technology.
However, the force said it would break even at the end of the financial year.
Its budget allocation for the year is £1,062.449 million.