Officers take less sick leave

THE number of sick days taken by police officers has fallen over the last year, new figures show.

Of the 674,570 days available to be worked by officers with Lothian and Borders Police between last April and March, a total of 25,037 were lost due to illness.

The time lost - 3.7 per cent - represents a slight drop on the previous year's 3.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, sick days taken by police staff increased. Of the 257,902 available days, some 15,562 sick days were taken by the 1151 staff members.

The amount of time lost over the period rose from 5.5 per cent to six per cent.