SNP MSP for the city of Glasgow Anne McLaughlin has today welcomed new figures that show police numbers across Scotland are at their highest ever.

At the end of 2009 there were a total of 17 273 police officers in Scotland, the highest number ever recorded. This has no doubt been a major factor that has brought crime across Scotland to its lowest ever in 30 years, with every single police force in the country seeing an increase in police numbers.

Welcoming the news, Ms McLaughlin said: "This is fantastic news for Scotland and again demonstrates that this SNP government takes the issue of crime and policing seriously.

"By putting record funding in to recruitment, we were able to bring up the numbers and start to tackle crime on our streets. This has no doubt been a determining factor in reducing crime rates in Scotland to their lowest ever in the last 30 years.

"In Glasgow alone we have seen things like knife crime go down dramatically, with a 39.66% fall in places in the East end of the city. That's the sort of results that people are looking for.

"Whilst there is still much work to be done, the people of Glasgow can be sure that the SNP is listening to them on the issues and will act to tackle crime in our city."

Notes:

Police Numbers by Police Force Area:

• New figures show that the SNP Government has surpassed its manifesto commitment to increase police numbers by 1000.
• At the end of 2009 there were 17,273 police officers in Scotland – 1039 more than when the SNP came to power.
  
• There are now a record number of police officers on Scotland’s streets.
• Every single Police Force area has seen an increase in the number of police officers.
• This is due to record funding for police recruitment under the SNP, and has helped crime rates hit a 30 year low.

Police Force Area       March 2007      Dec 2009        Change 
Central Scotland*              828                    834                +6     
Dumfries & Galloway        497                    513               +16    
Fife**                              1059                  1071              +12    
Grampian                         1374                  1545            +171   
Lothian and Borders         2793                  2979            +186   
Northern                            707                    793              +86    
Strathclyde                       7822                  8331            +509   
Tayside                             1154                1208               +54    
Total                               16234               17273          +1039  

*Central Scotland has seen a rise of 19 police officers in the last 2 years, from 815 in Dec ’07 to 834 in December 2009.

**Fife has seen a rise of 36 police officers in the last 3 years, from 1035 in December 2006 to 1071 in December 2009.

Source:  Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland 31^st December 2009.
Note:  Scotland and force totals may not equal the sum of the parts due to rounding.