100,000 fewer officers called to court under Scottish justice reforms
A reform of Scotland’s summary criminal courts has led to more than 100,000 fewer police officers being cited to give evidence, according to new figures published by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
The figures relate to the national rollout of Summary Case Management (SCM), a case management model designed to resolve more cases earlier, reduce unnecessary trials and limit avoidable witness attendance.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said the programme has significantly reduced the number of scheduled trials across Scotland’s Sheriff Courts while also cutting the number of police officers and vulnerable witnesses required to attend court.
It estimates that more than 100,000 fewer police officers were cited to give evidence during the rollout period. Around 3,000 fewer child witnesses were also cited, a reduction of 40 per cent.
The report also found first witness citations have fallen by 47 per cent since September 2022, while re-citations are down 59 per cent.
For policing, the reduction is significant. Fewer witness citations mean fewer officers abstracted from operational duties to attend court only for cases to be delayed, adjourned or resolved without evidence being led.
The issue has been a longstanding frustration for forces across the UK, where officers can spend hours travelling to court and waiting to give evidence in cases that do not ultimately proceed.
Under SCM, prosecution and defence are expected to engage earlier, evidence is disclosed sooner, and judicial case management begins much earlier in the process. The intention is to narrow disputed issues sooner and resolve cases before trial wherever possible.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said the approach has helped reduce the number of summary trials listed nationally from more than 30,000 during the pandemic to around 9,000 — the lowest level since records began.
Domestic abuse trials have seen a particularly marked fall, dropping from a peak of 7,685 to 2,005, according to the latest figures.
Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar said the success of the programme reflected “early communication, meaningful engagement between prosecution and defence and proactive judicial case management”, replacing what she described as “delay and uncertainty” in the summary justice system.
The latest report builds on findings from the earlier pilot of Summary Case Management, which had already shown reductions in police witness citations in domestic abuse cases and fewer officers being taken away from front-line duties.
The figures also arrive amid wider scrutiny of court citation processes in Scotland. A joint inspection published earlier this year found the witness citation system remains resource-intensive and overly reliant on police officers, with inspectors calling for greater use of digital communication to modernise the process.