Police ‘tweet’ incidents

The Friday before Christmas, known by many as Mad Friday, is when works traditionally celebrate the festivities.

It is also a busy time for police because it is also associated with drink-fuelled trouble and anti-social behaviour.

In an effort to help the public understand the number and variety of incidents, officers took to social networking site Twitter to give out details of every incident reported to them that day.

Between midday on Friday and midnight, they tweeted 900 incidents, which included 65 arrests mostly for drink related offences.

There were 162 incidents in Rotherham, including reports of trouble outside a pub in Kiveton.

In Sheffield there were 394 incidents, 76 in Barnsley and 268 in Doncaster.

Superintendent Peter Norman, who was responsible for the #SYtweetmas experiment, said he hoped it would enable the public to see how much time and resources go into keeping them safe over the Christmas period.

He said: “During the build-up to Christmas and continuing over the festive and New Year period, South Yorkshire Police see an increased demand for calls for service.”

“The information being raised through Twitter will raise awareness of the diverse and complex role of policing.”

“This will hopefully enable the public to see, on one of the busiest periods, how much time and resources officers spend policing and keeping the community safe over the festive period.”

“It was extremely busy across the county but we had a good plan in place.”

“There were no serious incidents and no serious injuries, although we did have quite a few arrests across the county.”

Other incidents tweeted included an argument which threatened to get out of hand in Sheffield, drivers failing to pay for fuel, and a large drunken man collapsed in a Sheffield street.

A man reported being chased by another man with a large knife in Conisbrough, and a 13-year-old girl refused to come home from a neighbour’s house in Woodlands, Doncaster.

There were reports of a theft of Christmas presents during a burglary at a house, criminal damage, and reports of a man and woman threatening a shopkeeper at a supermarket in Wath. One of the most re-tweeted’ incidents was the death of a cat which had been hit by two vehicles in Sheffield.

The tweets were also shown on vans located in prominent places across South Yorkshire.

Before the event, South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright said: “The Twitterthon will awareness of the diverse and complex role of policing and hopefully build trust and confidence with the public, as they are able to see, on one of the busiest periods, how much time and resources officers spend policing and keeping the community safe over the festive period.

Twitter users rated the initiative a huge success.