Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Robert Brown MSP has demanded that the Justice Secretary stops hiding behind excuses following his admission that police authorities will face a 'number of challenges' to keep officer numbers on track.

The Justice Secretary has admitted that the high rate of officer retirals was a barrier to the SNP target of recruiting an additional 1000 officers by 2011.

Commenting, Mr Brown said:

"The Justice Secretary cannot continue to use officer retirement rates as an excuse for the SNP Government not meeting their promise on police numbers.

"This is something that any sensible administration should have factored into their calculations from the beginning.

"It is unacceptable that something so obvious has not been included in any predictions about recruitment rates. There must be no more excuses from Ministers on this issue."

Ends.