Records relating to the history of policing in Scotland are held in many archives under different access arrangements, and by police forces themselves. In general a wider variety of records survive for the larger forces, especially the city constabularies, while, for some smaller constabularies, particularly those absorbed by larger forces, little survives. Police records held by archives tend to come from four sources: local authority records (county and burgh government), police HQs, police stations, and from families of former police personnel. This page primarily gives information about records produced by police forces and police authorities in Scotland, but for information about records relating to predecessors of police forces, courts and the criminal justice system, parliament and central government supervision of police forces click on one of the entries below:

Predecessors of police forces
Courts and the criminal justice system
Parliament and central government supervision of police forces

Modern police forces
Police forces for Scottish counties, cities and towns were set up in the nineteenth century. In 1975 most were abolished when the present eight regional police forces were set up. Five police forces (Strathclyde, Northern, Grampian, Dumfries and Galloway, and Fife) have deposited substantial historical records (including the records of predecessor forces) with local authority archives but retained certain records themselves. The other three police forces retain most historical records. To contact the custodians of the records of one of the current forces (and its predecessors) click on one of the following:
Central Police
Dumfries and Galloway Police
Fife Constabulary
Grampian Police
Lothian and Borders Police
Northern Constabulary
Strathclyde Police
Tayside Police

To find when a particular force was active and what its successor was, click on one of the following:

Current (Regional) Forces
City Constabularies
County Constabularies
Amalgamated Police Forces
Burgh and Other Constabularies