A north-east MSP will call on Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to come clean on the “exodus” of police in the north-east.
Labour’s Lewis Macdonald has claimed officers with the former Grampian Police are leaving Police Scotland.
He is due to tackle Mr MacAskill on the issue during this afternoon’s questions in the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Macdonald said: “Time and again over the last twelve months, I have discovered that up-and-coming police officers I have been dealing with in and around Aberdeen have quit Police Scotland and left the police service altogether.
“I am pressing SNP ministers to reveal the scale of this exodus, because the number of local leaders leaving the police service is bound to have an impact on the quality of the service in the north-east.
“Kenny MacAskill has been very reluctant to say how far the number of police officers based in Grampian has been cut, compared with the days of Grampian Police. The Chief Constable has also declined to say how many cops are actually based here now.
“Until they answer these questions we can only guess the reasons for refusing to give like for like figures, but the suspicion has to be that there are fewer police officers here now than a year ago.”
Police Scotland has said changes to the force mean a direct comparison cannot be made between the number of officers with Grampian Police and the new national force.
In the last year of Grampian Police. there were 1,512 officers. Figures released in March show 1,133 stationed in the three divisions covering Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, but those divisions are supplemented by access to 596 regional and 1,368 national officers.