Alex Reid

A UK police force has scored a massive social media hit.

In an “exercise”, the Greater Manchester Police highlighted the types of calls they have to deal with by posting the calls via their Twitter page in a scheduled 24-hour period from 5 a.m. on Thursday until 5 a.m. on Friday. They posted so many calls, they had to create three Twitter accounts to get past the Twitter API limits (#1, #2 & #3).

Why?

As Inside the M60 reported yesterday, the Greater Manchester Police is under threat of having its budget cut by up to £7 million ($15 million CAD). So Chief Constable Peter Fahy decided to use Twitter to illustrate what they deal with on a daily basis, in hopes of showing the public how stretched their police resources already are.

So far, the Twitter public have responded positively and open data geeks are already combing through the data in hopes of analyzing the calls. In one day, the police force posted every of its 3,205 incidents, officers arrested 341 people and 126 of those remain in custody. The police force also gained 14,000 more followers through the demonstration.

From the Globe:

“The reaction we have received proves that the public perception of modern day policing was removed from the reality that my officers face,” said GMP Chief Constable Peter Fahy. “I think that it’s time to start measuring performance in a different way,” he said. “There needs to be more focus on how the public sector as a whole is working together to tackle society’s issues and problems.”

ConnectedCOPS.net also has some interesting numbers on who follows cops’ twitter accounts. Some other police departments that are posting on Twitter:

@omahapolice, @bocachief, @portlandpolice, @WOODSTOCKPD, @modestopolice, @milwaukeepolice, @WaterfordPolice, @JOCOSHERIFF, @BaltimorePolice, @TexasDPS_PIO, @OkCountySheriff, @BocaPolice, @BBPD, @RichmondPolice, @DenverPolice, @NaplesPolice, @boulderpolice, @AuburnPD, @HawthornePD, @OBPD, @TorrancePD, @peekskillpolice, @WarrentonPD, @HollyHillPolice, @TyronePolice, @GulfportPolice, @UCPD, @Streetsboropd, @MBTAPoliceTPSA2, @newtownpd, @RemingtonPolice, @OSPolicing, @IACPOfficial, @EppingNHPolice, @PPBPIO, @JuneauPD, @ChesterfieldPD, @bellevuepolice.