Police Scotland has reported a 22% rise in warrants between 2023 and 2025, with more than 10,000 still outstanding and yet to be executed.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) says the growing backlog is having a “direct and damaging impact” on policing capacity and forcing officers away from vital community duties.
David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “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.
“The reality is simple: more warrants, fewer officers, and no additional capacity is an unsustainable equation.
“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.”
The latest edition of Justice Publication 1919 Magazine revealed the scale of the problem, drawing responses from both government and opposition politicians.
Scottish Labour’s justice spokesperson, Pauline McNeill, said the issue reflected wider strain across the justice system.
She said: “Scotland’s entire justice system – from frontline policing to courts to prisons – is at breaking point under the SNP.
“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.”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr said the government’s approach had led to a cascade of pressure across public services.
He said: “This is the product of a justice system which has been starved of resources and attention from government ministers.
“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.”
In a report to the Scottish Police Authority’s policing performance committee, Assistant Chief Constable Wendy Middleton outlined the operational impact.
She said the growing volume of warrants leads to delayed hearings, dismissed witnesses, administrative duplication, and greater demands on police time.
She said: “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.”
A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) spokesperson said prosecutors seek warrants only where justified.
The spokesperson said: “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.”
The Scottish Government said it has allocated record funding to policing for 2025/26.
A government spokesperson 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.”
