Call handlers for Dorset Police dealt with 450 incidents in a 12 hour period: including reports of dogging, abusive seven-year-olds, and loose sheep.

The incidents were revealed as part of a live Tweetathon being ran by Dorset Police in order to provide live, real-time updates of calls being handled.

During the 12 hours (from 3pm on Friday, August 5 until 3am on Saturday, August 6), the force dealt with 250 calls to 999: including one from a woman who, whilst intoxicated, rang to say she didn’t know where her boyfriend was. Whilst she was on the phone the boyfriend reappeared and police issued for them to return home.

Several emergencies were responded with a number of 999 calls relating to concerns over people’s welfare.

Officers were dispatched to the Bridport area, at around 1.35am, following reports of a man punching two women in the face: knocking one of them unconscious. 

Earlier in the evening, reports were received of a 7-year-old swearing at elderly people and threatening another child with a screw. The boy has also exposed himself from the front door of the property.

Officers had to get involved with a different type of incident altogether when, at 1.19am, the call-room received a radio message from an officer after CCTV officers witnessed a man taking a poo in the street. Officers attended and gave the man an order to leave the area. 

At 7.49pm the police received a 101 call reporting a “suspicious male who jumped out of a bush, entered a van with another male, then exited again before proceeding back into the woods in Dorchester - believed to be dogging.”

Other calls - from serious incidents to the weird and wonderful - included:

  • 101 - Female reporting that she has been assaulted at a swimming pool over a disagreement regarding swimming lane boundaries
  • 999 - Abandoned 999 call, person reporting having had their genitals cut off by their father. Believed to be young people abusing the 999 service - checks being made against the number for potential offences and safeguarding.
  • 999 - Road rage. Family were throwing bottles of water to one another and left one on the ground for a moment. A male has taken exception to this and threatened to ram them off the road while hurling abuse.
  • 101 - Intelligence provided regarding "dodgy" looking young people, sat around. No crimes disclosed
  • 101 - Theft of two dogs by soon to be ex-wife.
  • 999 - Report of two youths fiddling with a lock at a closed supermarket in Poole. Officers at scene and all is in order, this was staff locking up.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Lyne, from Dorset Police, said: “We want to give members of the public a real insight into the work our hard working officers and staff manage in a typical day so expect to see several hundred tweets sharing the demand coming into us over the 12 hours.”

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, David Sidwick, said: “The Tweetathon is not only a good way of sharing information about contacting the police, it also shows a side to the work of Dorset Police that many people don’t get to see – the work that goes on behind the scenes 24/7 to keep us all safe.”