POLICE will return to Twitter next weekend to tweet every call they receive on the last Friday before Christmas - also known as 'Mad Friday'.

The Tweetathon will run for 12 hours from 2pm on what is also known as 'Builders' Friday', to the early hours of Saturday morning.

Its aim will be to show people the type and volume of calls received by the force during what is expected to be one of the busiest times of the year - despite the bringing in of new restrictions to curb the spread of the new omicron variant.

The force says it has seen a high demand for calls to service over the last few weekends, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. It also follows an unprecedented six months where police forces across the country, including in North Yorkshire, have seen record numbers of 999 and 101 calls.

To deal with the expected high demand, in the run-up to Christmas, extra officers will be deployed to the streets and additional staff will be working in the police force control room.

“The last Friday before Christmas is always one of the busiest days of the year for the police and we expect this year to be no different," said Superintendent Jason Dickson, head of customer contact and the force control room at North Yorkshire Police.

"I would urge members of the public to plan their night, look out for each other and enjoy the festivities safely.

“When the force last ran the tweetathon in 2018, members of the public were given a ‘behind the scenes’ view of policing and were astonished by the volume and variety of incidents that the force dealt with.

“Sharing this information allows the public to understand the sheer number of incidents called in to us, the nature of the calls and how we prioritise and respond to them. We also hope that by being open and transparent, it reassures the public that we are here 24/7 to keep them safe, all year round."

He added: “I want to reassure anyone who needs to call the police while the tweetathon is ongoing that no information will be released that could identify them. We’ll simply be sharing the nature of the incident and our response to it. We hope the public will find it interesting, eye opening and reassuring.”

The police first took part in a Tweetathon in 2013 as part of a global event involving police forces across the world. The force did two more in 2018.

Follow the tweets at @NYorksPolice #NYPfor12.

Updates will also be posted on the North Yorkshire Police Facebook page and Instagram account.