Police Scotland was under fire last night after it emerged the force is considering axeing 67 civilian workers who deliver legal documents.
Unison criticised proposals to replace staff with frontline bobbies under cost-cutting plans.
The union claims senior officers are considering getting rid of so-called legal document staff in a move which would place a time-consuming and administrative burden on officers.
Unison official Gerry Crawley said: “Police Scotland have freely admitted that this work, the equivalent of 123,000 hours a year, is not disappearing.
“It will be given out to beat officers who will have to meet deadlines and carry out administration of the citation process which takes them away from their role of keeping people safe.
“This is yet another example of the police making cuts at the expense of service to the public.”
Chief Superintendent Graham Sinclair said the force was working towards adopting national structures across the country to ensure it was working in the most efficient and effective way to serve the public.
“This proposal will ensure we adopt the same approach for serving legal documents across the country and make greater use of our resources,” he added.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour has launched a new campaign to try to block proposals to close counters at police stations across the north and north-east to the public.
The controversial plans, which would affect locations including Bucksburn in Aberdeen, Aboyne, Portsoy, Fochabers and Stromness in Orkney, were the subject of a stormy debate at Holyrood yesterday.
Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson claimed cuts to police budgets, backroom staff and front counters would make it hard to keep officer numbers at their current level.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill claimed the independence referendum had a bearing on the attack on the government and scolded rival MSPs for not supporting the police, who had overseen a reduction in crime to a 39-year low.
He added that the force was dealing with the consequence of Westminster budget cuts.
But Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell said the closure of public counters would be a “significant blow” to communities.
And north-east Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes claimed the force was in danger of becoming a “faceless, increasingly impersonal, enforcement agency”.