They have enjoyed a slower-paced life, sitting behind their desks manning the backroom operations.
But a major Police Scotland shake-up to put more boots on the ground means officers used to the indoor environment have to step back out once again.
Scores off staff are going from long-term desk jobs to dangerous frontline roles – but it has been claimed they’ll need skills and fitness retraining to deal with the transition.
News of the reshuffle comes as the cash-strapped force struggles to get a grip on deadly gang wars being fought in parts of the country.
Ruthless feuding between drug lords and notorious criminal families has seen over a dozen attacks including fire bombings and gun violence as the grapple for control that kicked off in Edinburgh spread to Glasgow in recent months.
Drugs and people trafficking and other violent crimes are also stretching the thin blue line to breaking point amid shrinking numbers of officers, which fell to the lowest level since 2007 in the middle of last year.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents the rank and file, yesterday warned officers working desk jobs for years will need to be ‘prepared for the demands of frontline policing’.
David Kennedy, SPF general secretary, said they had concerns about the transition for those who had been ‘non-operational’ for an extended period of time.
Scores of Police Scotland officers are going from long-term desk jobs to dangerous frontline roles as part of a shake-up
Mr Kennedy said: ‘Issues such as refresher training, fitness and welfare are paramount to ensure officers are fully prepared for the demands of frontline policing.
‘The Federation has emphasised that any move back to operational duties must be supported appropriately to safeguard both the officers and the public.’
According to Mr Kennedy, there are also issues around ‘flexible working’ for officers involved.
He said: ‘We are aware that a lot of officers who work 9 to 5 do so because they have caring responsibilities and they will now need to apply for flexible working.’
Mr Kennedy was also critical of police Scotland’s use of ‘on call’, which means officers may be required to be available for duty outside of their regular shift.
He said: ‘On call is another major concern as we believe that Police Scotland relies too heavily on this in the day-to-day 24/7 of policing.’
And he added: ‘You can shake it up as much as you want but you can’t get more from less and Police Scotland needs more police officers’.
The force is recruiting extra civilian staff to free up scores of desk officers for operational duties in a bid to improve visibility in communities and boost the fight against crime.
The overhaul spearheaded by Chief Constable Jo Farrell reverses moves of previous years that saw bobbies pulled from the beat for back office roles after budget cuts saw civilian staff made redundant.
Now the Contact Centre, Firearms Licensing and Investigation section is among the first to see the ‘release officers from these roles back to front line policing roles’.
According to a force report, 32 officers in firearms licensing will switch back to local policing with civilians being recruited to replace them, with the ‘rebalancing’ of the force set to see hundreds more moved from desk jobs to bolster the thin blue line.
The report says: ‘We plan for a further uplift of 30 police staff in the future and further remodelling of the function.
‘At the end stage, we should release 58 dedicated and approximately 300 non-dedicated police officer firearms enquiry officers from the function in a phased approach.
‘We are also carrying out a rebalancing of the workforce mix within our contact centres. Phase one – replacing 25 constable posts and 10 sergeant posts with 25 staff posts – was completed this quarter.
‘It is expected that phase two – replacing a further 50 constables and 20 sergeants with 50 staff posts – will be complete by quarter four 2025/26.’
Desk-bound police officers are being offered fitness training as part of preparation to return to the front line
Seven months after taking up the top job in June 2023, Chief Constable Jo Farrell said she was ‘shocked’ by the lack of focus on frontline policing.
She said the force was being ‘held under water on a daily basis’ by the scale of demand it faces, and highlighted officers being taken off the front line to do work that should be done by civilian police staff.
Police Scotland declined to elaborate over the ultimate number of officers expected to be switched from desk jobs to the frontline as part of the force’s ‘rebalancing’ blueprint.
But it said, all officers are expected to maintain fitness levels for operational duties as they can be deployed operationally for major incidents or policing events.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell added yesterday: ‘The Chief Constable has been clear that bringing frontline policing to its strongest position is a priority.
‘We began the additional deployments from back-office and corporate functions across the organisation in November 2024, which is already enabling frontline officers to stay in communities to prevent crime and address threat, risk and harm.
‘Routine refresher training is already carried out and we are working to identify additional training requirements and will support these as required.’
ACC Waddell added: ‘We recognise the challenges that caring responsibilities can place on our people, which frontline officers on shift patterns are not immune to either.
‘There are mitigations in place to address exceptional circumstances, such as flexible working applications, and any applications will be considered.’
