South Yorkshire Police deal with more than 1,000 crimes over Mad Friday weekend

Police chiefs have revealed that officers attended numerous crimes across the region which included a stabbing, a fatal car crash and a number of domestic incidents.

Police staff received 4,066 non-emergency calls and 2,125 emergency requests from 7am on Friday, December 18 to 7am today Monday, December 21.

Chief Superintendent Jason Harwin, who was in command of the operation, said: “The weekend before Christmas is always one of the busiest of the year for South Yorkshire Police and as such, we ensure there are additional resources on the street.

“It was another busy weekend and of 4,061 incidents, our call handling centre resolved 1,862 over the phone by providing advice and reassurance with the remaining 2,199 incidents attended by district and specialist officers.

“The main incidents dealt with included a fatal collision, a stabbing in Sheffield, and a number of public order and domestic-related incidents.

“But thanks to good planning by the local police teams and partnership working which allowed us to have a co-ordinated response to demand, the volume of incidents was effectively managed.”

As part of the force’s campaigns to keep people safe this Christmas, officers hosted a Twitterthon from 3pm to midnight on Mad Friday.

The aim was to keep people up to date with the picture across South Yorkshire by tweeting a selection of the calls received.

Chief Supt Harwin added: “On Mad Friday itself, we took 1,428 calls which was only 80 more than the same period last year.

“We had some really positive responses from the Twitterthon and there was a lot of support for the force.

“Our campaigns, which have been running throughout December, continued to highlight the dangers associated with this time of year and we hope that people will continue to take care of themselves.

“My thanks go to all the officers and staff for their continued hard-work to deal with the additional demands of the festive season.”