Report Summary
This report provides members of the Scottish Police Authority Policing Performance Committee with additional information and context in relation to the number of outstanding live warrants.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 16 September 2025
Date : 09 December 2025
Location : online
Warrants issued V Warrants disposed/ executed
Since 1 January 2025, 31,376 warrants have been received by Police Scotland and a total of 29,858 executed / disposed of. Over the preceding 10 months this equates to a net increase of 1,518 warrants unexecuted. The term disposed is an over-arching term to the resolution of a warrant and includes arrest by Police and where warrants have been withdrawn by the courts. Of the 31,376 received by Police Scotland, 23,715 (78%) were resolved through individuals being arrested.
It should be noted that the 29,858 warrants executed will not all relate to warrants which have been issued / received in 2025.
The table below highlights the number of warrants issued per quarter since January 2025.
RECEIVED Q4 2024 Q1 2025 Q2 2025 Q3 2025
A 1115 1097 1167 1260
B 5103 5536 5553 6286
C 2117 1762 1735 1915
UNCLASSIFIED 481 412 580 532
TOTAL 8816 8807 9035 9993
2025 J F M A M J J A S O Total
Issue 2932 2832 3043 2896 3239 2900 3311 3407 3275 3541 31376
Exec 2939 2995 3069 3073 2864 2804 2931 2954 3115 3114 29858
7 163 26 177 -375 -96 -380 -453 -160 -427 -1518
The trend of volume of warrants received is generally growing month on month and the October 2025 volume of warrants received is 21% more than the volume received in January 2025.
Despite the significant disposal / execution of warrants per month by Police Scotland, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep pace with the volume of warrants issued and if this trend continues, it is likely that the outstanding warrants volume will continue to grow.
It is notable that the difference in number of warrants issued, compared to warrants executed / disposed of, is greater during the months of July and August when Policing has significant demands in terms of events and operations, including the visit of the President of the United States. This indicates how other demands and challenges directly aligns to resource availability within the organisation.
The table below shows the increase demand in terms of warrants received by Police Scotland:
Jan - October Received
Disposed
2023 25,665 24,975
2024 30,060 29,373
2025 31,367 29,858
Increase 2023 / 2025 22%
In addition to the above table showing an increase in warrants received, the net increase in terms of warrants received to warrants disposed / executed is also increasing:
2023 – Net increase 690
2024 – Net increase 657
2025 – Net increase 1509
