Read the figures in full: Lothian and Borders | Central | Dumfries and Galloway | Fife | Strathclyde | Grampian | Northern | Tayside | How the statistics break down

POLICE officers with as little as three months’ experience are patrolling some of Scotland’s most dangerous streets unaccompanied because of a lack of manpower, according to information passed to The Sunday Times.

Newly qualified recruits are being deployed without the supervision of more senior colleagues because forces don’t have enough officers to cope.

The disclosure accompanies the publication today of new crime figures by all eight police forces which show violent attacks rose by 4% across Scotland last year. Some areas of Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders and Grampian saw much bigger increases, with the number of serious assaults rising by more than 50%.

The most crime-ridden police beat area in Scotland was Aberdeen Central, which includes Union Street, the city’s main thoroughfare. Almost 8,300 crimes in the area were recorded, including 136 violent crimes, 121 sexual crimes, including rapes and indecent assaults, and more than 3,000 minor offences such as breach of the peace and petty assault.

Despite the area’s high crime rate, figures obtained by The Sunday Times reveal it is being routinely policed by inexperienced officers. Earlier this month, of 22 officers deployed on this beat on a Saturday night, 16 had been in an officer’s post for fewer than 18 months. Of these, two had been in the job for only three months. A four-man patrol included three officers with fewer than three years’ experience between them.

Similarly inexperienced officers are being deployed, unsupervised, across the country, according to the Scottish Police Federation.

In Strathclyde fears for the safety of junior officers and the public has prompted calls for an urgent review to increase average service levels in operational policing.

In the Northern constabulary, one in three officers has fewer than two years’ service.

“Most stations are now manned with officers who have very little experience between them,” said Les Gray, a spokesman for the federation. “It’s a problem across the whole of Scotland. The seasoned officers have been removed to specialist areas and this has weakened the front line. We need to look at how these officers are being deployed to ensure they are being accompanied by more experienced ones.”

Last night, opposition politicians criticised police forces for relying on junior officers to clean up the streets.

“A probationer should always work with an experienced officer, not only for reasons of personal safety but also so that younger members of the team can learn from the more experienced ones,” said Bill Aitken, justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives.

The total number of crimes committed in Scotland last year was 819,955, about 4,500 more than were committed in 2006. Crimes of indecency, including rapes and sexual assaults, rose by 4% from 5,913 to 6,146, while serious crimes, including drugs offences and contempt of court rose from 81,561 to 84,684.

Crimes of dishonesty fell by 2%, from 186,966 to 183,183; crimes of malicious mischief, such as fire-raising and vandalism rose by 1.5% from 126,392 to 128,353, while miscellaneous offences, including breach of the peace and petty assault rose by 7% from 212,311 to 226,985.

Grampian saw the biggest rise in violent crime, up 8% from 875 offences to 947, and jointly with Lothian and Borders in sexual crime, with a rise of 6% from 1,159 to 1,226.

Senior police officers defended the reliance on new recruits. They said Scottish police forces had many experienced officers on the cusp of retirement at present.

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