WITH a 30% rise in 999 calls Merseyside Police is urging readers to report non-urgent crimes through its social media desk.

Introduced in August 2017, it was hoped the social media service would reduce the number of calls to 101.

However in the past 12 months, the force has seen a hike in emergency calls with 935 a day - compared with 701 in the same week last year.

Since being introduced, the social media desk has taken 17,000 reports.

Assistant chief constable Ian Critchley said: "On average Merseyside Police receives 2,500 calls a day and we’ve established that between 1,800 and 2,000 of those calls are non-urgent and don’t require immediate police attendance.

"The social media desk allows people to report crimes or concerns for free and at a time convenient to them, making us more accessible to many, and frees up our call handlers to deal with those emergencies that can only be resolved with a conversation.

"A survey of those making reports via the desk revealed 27% stated they wouldn’t have contacted police at all had it not been for the social media desk, and some 61% would have called 101 instead – that means more than 10,000 calls have been diverted away from call handlers, freeing up the lines.

"Some 96% of those who have used the service said it was very good or good, and we have been really pleased with the support and positive feedback we have received from social media users since its introduction and encourage people to continue to use the service.

"The force has experienced a significant rise in 999 calls and in order for our call handlers to meet the demands of those calls, we are asking the public to assist by using the social media desk where possible.

"We are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve our service to the public to become more effective and accessible and know that while some people will still want to use the phone, an ever-growing number of people would prefer to use social media to make contact.

"Our social media desk, available 24-hours a day, means we can offer that level of service.

"While we are doing everything we can do to make our systems more effective I want to continue to remind people to contact us because they need us.

"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.

"The social media desk is a non-emergency contact service and does not in any way replace the 999 service.

"We have had more than 100 reports to the social media desk that have been graded emergencies, but people should continue to call 999 in an emergency."

Merseyside Police is encouraging people to contact the social media desk on @MerPolCC on Twitter and ‘Merseyside Police CC’ on Facebook to free up phone operators to deal with emergencies.

As well as the non-urgent 101 number and the social media desk, members of the public can also report non-urgent crimes in a number of different ways including a direct email account – COMMCEN@merseyside.pnn.police.uk or via the force website www.merseyside.police.uk/contact-us/report-crime-online