By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
The growing number of warrants being issued by courts is placing increasing demands on frontline officers and taking them away from local communities, police bosses have warned.
Police Scotland has recorded a 22 per cent increase in warrants received from 2023 to 2025, with 10,906 outstanding ones waiting to be executed across the country.
Assistant Chief Constable Wendy Middleton warned it is becoming “increasingly difficult to keep pace”, stating that if the volume continues to increase, so will the number of outstanding warrants.
“The issuing of a warrant will often result in a hearing being adjourned, witnesses dismissed to be recited, and a general duplication of effort to reconvene court proceedings,” she told members of the Scottish Police Authority’s policing performance committee in a recent report.
“This increases the number of citations to be served on members of the public, as well as an increase in the time spent in court for police officers.
“Delays in court procedures can also see evidence diminish over time, such as first-hand witness accounts.
“It places direct demand on frontline officers who are required to trace accused persons and apprehend them.
“This can involve extensive enquiries to locate individuals, especially those individuals who are intent on evading arrest or simply because of the lifestyle an individual leads.
“Ultimately, it places direct demand on frontline officers and abstracts them from other policing duties within local communities.”
Since January 1 last year, 31,376 warrants have been received by Police Scotland and a total of 29,858 executed or disposed of.
Of the total number received, 78 per cent (23,715) were resolved through arrests being made.
ACC Middleton pointed out that the difference in the number of warrants issued compared with the number executed was greater during July and August last year, when there were a number of major policing operations and events in Scotland, including the visit of President Donald Trump.
“This indicates how other demands and challenges directly align to resource availability within the organisation,” she said.
David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), told 1919 that demand is outstripping capacity, with resource pressures being felt on a daily basis.
He said: “A 22 per cent increase in warrants in just two years, with more than 10,900 currently outstanding, is not simply a procedural issue for courts or prosecutors – it has a direct and damaging impact on policing capacity and on the service communities receive every day.
“Each warrant represents officer time abstracted from local policing, prevention work and visible community presence, and instead diverted into repeated attempts to trace, arrest, convey and then repeatedly attend court.
“Frontline officers are already stretched thin. They are being asked to absorb the consequences of systemic delays, non-attendance at court, and wider social instability, all while police numbers have fallen significantly since 2013.
“The reality is simple: more warrants, fewer officers, and no additional capacity is an unsustainable equation.”
He added: “Without meaningful, system-wide reform and realistic workforce planning, officers will continue to be pulled away from communities to service a growing backlog that they did not create – and the public will ultimately pay the price.”
In her report, ACC Middleton stated that it is “generally accepted that less people are attending court than pre-pandemic”, which results in more ‘failure to appear’ warrants being issued.
These types of warrants accounted for around 62 per cent of all warrants received by Police Scotland between January and October last year.
“Increases in warrants, in particular ‘failure to appear’ warrants, is likely due to a range of factors including social instability, misunderstanding of court dates or indeed deliberate avoidance”, said ACC Middleton.
On top of this, she pointed to a number of other factors which have contributed to an increase in warrants being issued, including “measures introduced to address the increasing prison population, such as electronic monitoring of bail, which results in more people being managed in the community”.
“In addition to these factors, it needs to be recognised that Police Scotland’s workforce has reduced since 2013,” she said.
“At a very basic level, this means there are less police officers available to execute warrants whilst the number of warrants being issued is increasing.”
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) told 1919: “Prosecutors seek warrants only where necessary and appropriate, in line with legal requirements and the interests of justice.
“In every case it is for the court to decide whether or not to grant a warrant.
“COPFS works closely with Police Scotland and the courts to ensure that warrants are properly managed.”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr described the situation as a “product of a justice system which has been starved of resources and attention from government ministers”.
He added: “It’s one under-pressure area inadvertently putting pressure on another.
“As usual, it all then falls on officers to chase up warrants and then sacrifice their hard-pressed time attending court over and again.
“Police officers are rightly questioning how bad things have to get before they receive the support they need.”
Scottish Labour’s justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said the system is at “breaking point”.
“The SNP must listen to these warnings and ensure that both Police Scotland and our courts are equipped to deal with the pressure it is under,” she said.
“We need to work across our public services to understand and address the causes of no-shows in courts and ensure that our bail system is working as it must.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “The issuing of warrants is for the independent courts and the execution of warrants is a matter for Police Scotland, who remain focused on the investigation of crime and keeping our communities safe.
“Our police perform a vital role keeping Scotland’s communities safe, which is why we have invested a record £1.64 billion for policing in 2025/26.
“Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales and this continues to be a safe place to live, with recorded crime falling by half since 1991.”