Mad Friday tweetathon proves ‘eye-opening’

Mad Friday proved to be a night of extremes for West Yorkshire Police according to Twitter.

From noon until midnight yesterday, officers took part in a tweetathon to give people a flavour of the calls they have to deal with at this time of year.

The Friday before Christmas, known as Mad Friday, is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year for alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and violent crime.

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In 12 hours, call handlers for West Yorkshire Police, took 746 calls made via 999, and more than 1,710 via 101.

Of those, 72 were calls relating to incidents of domestic violence, ranging from a call from an upset woman whose husband had drunk too much and was being aggressive and smashing up the house, to reports of a man trying to drag a woman into flats.

Officers also dealt with pub brawls, reports of a man threatening people with a bottle and refusing to leave a nightclub, and a call from a man who said he had been beaten up, and his girlfriend bitten.

But the #WYtweetmas feed on Twitter also showed a range of incidents at the other end of the spectrum, including a visit to a very drunk man who was curled in a ball and reporting seeing aliens, and a call from a man who said he could not afford a taxi.

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Another man called to say his girlfriend was throwing things at him. When asked what, he said packs of baby wipes. Others called for help to find their mobile phones and even a driving licence that had been missing for three days.

Police officers also had to go to the rescue of a man, who had accidentally been locked in a library.

The tweetathon was part of West Yorkshire Police’s Be Safe This Christmas campaign which is highlighting a number of the issues that the Force tends to see an increase in over the festive period including violent crime, domestic abuse, drink driving and theft.

Most of those who stayed in for the night to follow the twitter feed, said it had proved interesting and eye-opening.

Further information and advice on how to Be Safe This Christmas is available on the West Yorkshire website at: www.westyorkshire.police.uk/besafe