Greater Manchester Police publishes call outs on Twitter
Greater Manchester Police is sharing with the world what its officers have to deal with on a daily basis by publishing all the incidents it is called out to today on Twitter.
Until 5am tomorrow the force will detail all of the call outs it faces in order to demonstrate "the complexities of modern policing" which its chief constable Peter Fahy believes are not always fully appreciated.
He said: "Policing is often seen in very simple terms, with cops chasing robbers and locking them up. However the reality is that this accounts for only part of the work they have to deal with.
“A lot of what we do is dealing with social problems such as missing children, people with mental health problems and domestic abuse. Often these incidents can be incredibly complex and need a lot of time, resource and expertise.
“I am not saying that we shouldn’t deal with these types of incidents, far from it, but what I am saying is that this work is not recognised in league tables and measurements – yet is a huge part of what we do."
The social media experiment comes ahead of the Government's spending review next week, which is expected to usher in cuts to police budgets.
You can keep up to date with Greater Manchester Police's day of tweets by following gmp24_1, gmp24_2 and gmp24_3 on Twitter and the #gmp24 hashtag.
The force has already detailed hundreds of incidents in just a few short hours this morning. Some of them include:
Call 421 dog on the motorway at junction 24 on the M60
Call 372 false report of unattended bag at Manchester Airport - bag found to contain litter
Call 365 request for advice about an unwanted guest
Call 364 report of damage to a lamp post in Tameside
Call 350 report of a shoplifter held by staff in city centre
Call 349 suspicious noises in loft in Salford