Police officer numbers in Scotland stand at almost 17,300, maintaining the Scottish Government’s commitment to 1,000 extra officers.
Statistics show that there were 17,295 full-time equivalent officers on March 31, 2015, 1,061 more than in 2007 when the SNP administration came to power.
Unison Scotland said the statistics did not reflect the cuts to civilian police staff, which the union says has resulted in more police officers being taken off the streets to fill back-room jobs.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “Recorded crime is at a 40-year low, with violent crime down 10% and crimes of handling an offensive weapon (including knives) reduced by 62% since 2006-07.
“These strong statistics are backed by over 1,000 extra police officers that this Government has delivered compared to 2007, protecting the public and keeping communities safe.”
He added: “We have always said that police numbers will fluctuate and this publication shows we are continuing to exceed the target while keeping costs down.
“Alongside Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority, we are strongly committed to delivering 1,000 additional officers.”
Unison Scotland issued a statement condemning “in the strongest possible terms” this “arbitrary statistic being re-released today”, two days before the General Election.
About 2,000 civilian police staff have been cut through voluntary redundancies and early retirement schemes since 2009.
Police Scotland is seeking to make £1.1 billion of savings by 2026.
Gerry Crawley, regional organiser for the union, said the loss of civilian staff means “more and more police officers are being taken off the streets and are working in the back office covering for our members who have lost their jobs”.
“Police staff do vital jobs to fight crime like fingerprint officers, intelligence analysts, forensics, scenes-of-crime officers, photographers, emergency control-room staff, mechanics, custody officers, finance controllers and many others. These jobs are being cut,” he said.
He argued that the 1,000 extra officers is “not based on any strategic analysis of the skills we need to build a modern effective force to fight crime”.