Scottish Government letting special constabulary fade away – Lib Dems

Ministers are letting the special constabulary “fade away”, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have warned, as stats show the number of constables has fallen sharply since Police Scotland was created in 2013.

Figures obtained by the party via a Freedom of Information request show last year there were just 384 special constables in Scotland, compared with 1,394 in 2013/14 – a fall of 72%.

Of these, 342 were “deployed” last year compared with 1,011 deployed in 2013/14 – a 66% drop.

The stats also show the number of special constables being trained each year has fallen – from 90 in 2016/17 (the first year for which this data was available) to 49 last year.

Data for 2025/26 shows that as at the end of November 2025, 306 special constables have been deployed and just 12 have been trained, with a further 18 expected to complete their training in February 2026.

Special constables operate on a part-time and voluntary basis, exercising similar powers to police officers and helping boost the police’s presence in communities.

The party’s justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said the fall came at a time when “the police service is stretched like never before”, and called for a recruitment drive to reverse the decline in numbers.

Mr McArthur said: “Special constables provide an important link between communities and their police service because they can provide valuable local knowledge and assist frontline officers in their duties.

“The police service is stretched like never before.

“At a time when the police need all the help they can get, SNP ministers are letting the special constabulary fade away, to the point there may not be one much longer.

“Officers are up in arms about the pressures they face on every shift.

“On any given day they will be rushing to major incidents or dealing with complex mental health cases. It is essential that they receive the right support.

“I want to see ministers reversing the years of damage inflicted by their botched centralisation.

“That includes a serious recruitment drive to put the special constabulary on a long-term footing and ensuring officers and staff have the resources they need to tackle crime and keep people safe.”

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs said: “Police volunteers play a key part in delivering our vision of safer communities.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of special constables we are recruiting which will be very much a focus as we develop our community policing model and strengthen that model.

“Our volunteering strategy sets out a 10% year-on-year increase in recruiting volunteers and we have an ongoing intake of 18 special constables who have already commenced their initial training. We also have four scheduled intakes of volunteers for the year ahead.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We hugely value the service provided by special constables to keep our communities safe, however, their recruitment and deployment is an operational matter for the Chief Constable.

“Recorded crime down is down by half since 1991 and our record investment in policing enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in the last financial year than any time since 2013, with further intakes since.

“Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales.”