Devon and Cornwall Police sharing control room calls on social media

Real-time updates on calls received by a police control room will be shared on social media for 12 hours from 15:00 BST on Friday.

Devon and Cornwall Police is holding the 'tweetathon' to show the "significant demand" it faces.

It held a similar event in February when hundreds of incidents were shared.

Lucy Baillie, commander for contact and resolution, said it will show "the diverse range of calls" during "one of the busier times of the week".

She said: "We regularly receive calls that should not be directed to the police and there are a number of issues that can be dealt with more effectively by contacting us online via our website for non-emergency issues.

"However, in a typical Friday night the force also receives reports of very serious matters, including sexual assaults, road traffic collisions, domestic abuse, fights taking place linked to the night-time economy, missing people, support requests from ambulance colleagues and concerns for the welfare of vulnerable people."

Members of the public can keep up to date with what is happening on Twitter by following @DC_Police and the hashtag #ControlRoomLIVE.

The force received more than 34,800 calls to 999 in June - an increase of 19% compared to June 2022.

In addition it received about 44,000 non-emergency calls in June 2023.

Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Leaper said: "The vast majority of our demand starts with a phone call to our contact centre and by following this initiative, I'm confident you'll be surprised at the variety and volume of calls we receive."

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