Almost 50,000 crimes went undetected by Police Scotland in just three months according to new figures.
Data shows that between April and June this year 48,955 crimes had not been solved, with almost 4,000 written off under the force’s “proportionate response to crime” policy.
Police Scotland say that 25,617 “live” crimes remained unsolved during the period and 19,475 were undetected due to “no further lines of enquiry”.
Another 3863 were filed under “proportionate enquiry resolution”, meaning they were written off with no further action.
Tory spokesperson for victims and community safety, Sharon Doewy MSP, said: “These damning figures highlight just how disgracefully victims of crime are being let down as a result of SNP cuts to policing budgets.
“Thanks to the Nationalists’ contempt for the force, Police Scotland simply don’t have enough officers to investigate all crimes.”
Officers no longer investigate every offence reported to them, with frontline cops ordered not to follow up minor crimes such as break-ins and thefts where there are no leads or CCTV evidence.
They say the “proportionate response to crime” policy frees up resources and allows officers to devote more time to keeping people safe and reducing offending.
Police Scotland have predicted the number of crimes filed as “no action” will surge to almost 17,000 annually and free up 90,000 officer hours.
Critics have condemned the strategy and accused the SNP Government of a “white flag surrender to criminals” after imposing sustained cuts on the Police Scotland budget.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland said: “Officers and staff work hard every day to keep people safe in the face of changing threats and rapidly increasing demand on policing.
“From April to June this year, we detected 66.7% of crimes and of those which remain undetected, 25,617 investigations are still ongoing as officers support victims and bring those responsible for committing crime to justice.
“Our proportionate response to crime means that cases where there are no further lines of investigation open to us, are recorded and passed to local policing teams to build an intelligence picture and enable officers to proactively address local concerns.
“This approach allows officers more time to focus on local policing, keep people safe from harm, protect the vulnerable, bring criminals to justice and reduce offending.”
In 2024-25, Scotland recorded 299,111 crimes, a slight decrease from the previous year, with total recorded crime falling by 2% over the past decade.
