Suffolk Constabulary will be sharing live real-time updates on hundreds of incidents as part of a 10-hour Tweetathon this coming week.

From 11am on Wednesday 21 June a team of officers and staff will be tweeting basic details of live calls from the Constabulary's @SuffolkPolice account using #SPLive10.

Suffolk police control room

The aim is to tweet information relating to as many 999 and 101 calls as possible to highlight the significant demand the control room operators face on a daily basis, whilst reminding members of the public of the force's online reporting facility and Live Chat function.

From the start of April 2022 to the end of March 2023, the Contact and Control Room (CCR) at Suffolk Constabulary received more than 360,000 calls; 128,957 through the emergency 999 line and 231,352 via the 101 non-emergency number. On the 101 number alone, this is a 14% increase from the previous year. Only 25,000 reports were made online.

Command and Control Room Chief Inspector Shawn Wakeling said: "We regularly receive calls that are misdirected or could be dealt with effectively via our website. These calls may stop us from getting help to a vulnerable person in need and so we are running our Tweetathon to highlight the volume and nature of calls we receive on an 'average' midweek day and explain how we prioritise and respond to them.

Chief Inspector Shawn Wakeling (Picture: Suffolk Police)

"We hope that the Tweetathon will be interesting and eye-opening, and that it encourages the public to think twice before ringing the police if it is not an emergency.

"Whilst 999 emergency calls will always be prioritised, we are working hard to improve waiting times for calls that do not require an emergency response, and one way the public can assist with this is to use the alternative online methods to contact us.

"You can report non-emergency incidents via the Suffolk police website for things like: anti-social behaviour, criminal damage, theft, road traffic collisions and uploading dash cam footage. For general enquiries and advice, including following up on an existing report, people can also contact us via our Live Chat function which runs weekdays and can automatically translate up to 100 different languages.

"We received an incredible response to our Tweetathon last year, with many people commenting their surprise and appreciation to the number and variety of issues our officers deal with. We hope to, once again, connect and engage with a wider community during this Tweetathon and offer a unique insight into the challenges of policing."

Members of the public can be assured that no personal details will be shared during the Tweetathon that could identify a caller. Only the nature of calls will be shared to highlight the variety and volume of calls and raise awareness of those that could have been dealt with via the Suffolk police website or by partner agencies.

Call handler (Picture: Suffolk police)

Suffolk Police Crime and Commissioner Tim Passmore said: "I am so pleased to hear the Control Room is staging another Tweetathon, it is a really good opportunity for everyone to see exactly what the Constabulary deals with on a day-to-day basis, and doing this in real-time makes it a particularly authentic exercise.

"There has been a significant investment in the Control Room over the past two years – funded by the policing precept – and this has included improving online reporting and the introduction of live chat to alleviate the strain on the 101 service."

"The Tweetathon is a powerful illustration of the volume and variety of work that the Constabulary undertakes during a normal working day and from the feedback received after the last one it is clear that it was very well received by the public. I expect this exercise will also highlight the number of calls that come through to the control room which should have been directed to partner agencies, which will be a useful lesson to us all to ensure we make the right call."

Control room call taker (Picture: Suffolk police)

Basic details of incidents will be tweeted but where incidents are sensitive or involving ongoing legal proceedings / vulnerability, it may not be appropriate for further information to be provided. 

Should a major police incident occur, the Tweetathon will be stopped and postponed until a later date.

Live Chat on the police website is available 9am – 5pm on Mondays-Fridays and is manned by a team of operators who have also been trained as 101 call operators.

Although it is not a reporting facility, users can contact Suffolk police for general enquiries and advice, and will receive the same level of assistance as they would if they called the non-emergency number.