Forget 999 or 111, you can now report your crimes on Twitter, says police force
Victims of crime are now being encouraged to report incidents via Facebook and Twitter rather than telephone, after one of the country's major forces launched a dedicated social media desk.
Merseyside Police has introduced the initiative in a bid to cut down on the number of trivial calls made to its emergency 999 line and also to ease the burden on its other services.
But the scheme is likely to lead to concern among those, such as the elderly, who may not have access to digital devices or are not familiar with social media apps.
The roll out follows a six month trial, which the force said had seen more than 6,000 people getting in touch via digital platforms.
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said the trial had been so successful that 20 other forces were now looking at introducing something similar.
Police Crime Map 2018
The social media desk will be manned 24-hours a day and operators will receive and deal with incoming reports via a range of approved social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Critchley insisted the service would compliment rather than replace the current mechanisms for reporting crime.
He said: "On average Merseyside Police receives 2,500 calls a day and we’ve established that between 1800 and 2000 of those calls are non-urgent and don’t require immediate police attendance.
We regularly receive calls on all sorts of issues such as cats up trees and blocked drains – these types of calls can put extra pressure on our call handlers
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Critchley
“We know that that we are in a fast-moving digital age and that in the last 10 years we have seen a significant shift in the way that people communicate with each other and we want to make sure that Merseyside Police remains up to speed with those changes.
“We know that while some people will still want to use the phone, a growing number of people would prefer to use social media to make contact. By introducing a social media desk that is available 24-hours a day means we can offer that level of service.”
He added: "We regularly receive calls on all sorts of issues such as cats up trees and blocked drains – these types of calls can put extra pressure on our call handlers."
Operations manager Tony Jackson said: “By setting up the social media desk we hope to take away demand on the 101 phone lines in the future and give people more choice and an alternative way to report non-urgent crime or get advice or guidance."
