STRESSED COPS OFF 79,000 DAYS

Plea for more officers as 'relentless’ hours blamed for mental health crisis

- BY NORMAN SILVESTER

THE number of cops taking days off work with mental health conditions has soared in the last five years.

Now demands have been made for more officers on streets, amid claims police face burnout from stress.

The stats, released under freedom of information by Police Scotland, show 44,157 working days were lost in 2020-21 due to what the force describe as “psychological disorders”.

But that rose to 79,472, up 80 per cent, in 2024-25.

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “We are broke and we need to fix it. Our numbers have reduced significantly in the last few years, whereas the workload has increased.