Twitter's often used for passive-aggressive means, but a British police department is taking on the government in a 24hour-long display of how overworked they really are, by tweeting every single call they receive. 6hours in, that's over 700 potential crimes.
The Greater Manchester Police started tweeting from 5am GMT (12am EST) today, using three Twitter accounts (due to anti-spamming restrictions set by Twitter). Some tweets show calls relating to domestic disputes, others involve abandoned cars and "suspicious males," and distressingly there are a few silent calls to the emergency number, made from phones going off in people's pockets.
I just hope no-one deluges the Greater Manchester Police force with phony crimes to get some sick satisfaction at seeing them being tweeted. It's fun when there's a live updating Twitter feed at conferences, and everyone joins in on dissing the speakers or subject-matter, but when taxpayers' money is on the line—and potentially people's lives—it's really not very funny at all. Hopefully I haven't given anyone any ideas. [@gmp24_1 and @gmp24_2 and @gmp24_3 via Reuters]
Image Credit: Greater Manchester Police