A technical fault led to the deletion of more than 115,000 recorded calls to Police Scotland’s 101 non-emergency line, BBC Scotland has learned.
The issue—undisclosed until now—was discovered in February 2025, when it became clear that a full month’s worth of recorded conversations had not been archived as intended. The affected calls were deleted after four weeks, as per retention policy, but due to the archiving failure, they were lost permanently.
Despite the scale of the deletion, police stress that public safety was never compromised, and 999 emergency calls were not affected.
What went wrong?
Between January and November 2024, the 101 line received more than 100,000 calls per month, according to Police Scotland figures. The line is designed for reporting non-urgent matters like stolen vehicles, drug activity, or traffic accidents.
Ordinarily, these calls are recorded and archived for potential future use in legal proceedings, police complaints, or data access requests from the public.
However, a technical issue meant that a significant volume of those call recordings—dating from a single month—were never transferred into long-term storage.
“In February 2025, a technical fault was discovered on the archived 101 non-emergency call recording platform,” said Superintendent Gordon Fotheringham. “A quantity of 101 call recordings were unable to be retrieved.”
What information was lost—and what remains?
While the audio recordings were lost, metadata was not.
According to Police Scotland, the following information was retained:
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Caller’s number
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Start and end times
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Call duration
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Typed notes summarizing the conversation
This means that although exact verbal exchanges are gone, basic data and call context are still accessible for investigative or administrative purposes.
Was the public informed?
The technical error was discovered months ago, in February, but no public announcement was made at the time. Police say the fault was quickly corrected, and a new recording system has since been installed.
“The new platform mitigates the risk of any future technical faults and enhances resilience in our telephony structure,” said Supt Fotheringham.
There’s no indication that this incident will impact any active legal proceedings or investigations, though concerns may be raised about how the data loss could affect complaints lodged against officers or requests for call transcripts made by members of the public.
A trust and transparency issue?
Call recordings on the 101 line are often key in:
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Handling misconduct complaints
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Supporting legal cases
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Ensuring transparency in non-emergency police interactions
While the police assert that essential details remain accessible, the lack of audio could limit evidentiary use in cases where precise wording matters.
Civil liberties groups may press for answers on how long the issue went undetected and why no public communication was made earlier this year when the fault was first found.
Police Scotland response in full
Here is Supt Fotheringham’s full statement to BBC Scotland:
“The fault was quickly rectified and did not impact the ability to answer 101 calls. It did not affect the emergency 999 call line at any time.”
“Upon further investigation, it was confirmed that while the archiving of the 101 calls did not take place, the call data was still available.”
“A new recording system has since been implemented that mitigates the risk of any future technical faults and enhances resilience in our telephony structure.”
Public urged to continue using 101
Despite the deletion, Police Scotland is encouraging the public to continue using 101 for non-urgent matters, emphasizing that the line is fully operational and backed by a more robust technical framework.
The incident adds to ongoing conversations about data management and digital accountability in public service infrastructure—where even small technical errors can have far-reaching implications.
