Social media users have been asked to make sure they report crimes to Sussex Police rather than just writing about them on Facebook and Twitter.
During a performance and accountability meeting on Tuesday (November 16), Chief Constable Jo Shiner stressed the need for people to go through the proper channels.
Speaking to Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, she said the issue was ‘a real challenge’.
She added:
"We see that people report all sorts of things – not just police related but society related – on social media [thinking] its done because it’s on Facebook or because it’s on Twitter.
“While we obviously have a presence on a number of the social media platforms, it is a challenge and we would always urge people to either report it online or [using] 101 or whatever the appropriate way of contacting us is.”
Ms Shiner said she had seen online posts where people discussed incidents or posted pictures of damage done to their car and then said ‘no’ when asked if they had reported it.
She added:
“I always urge people to report it. It means we have an accurate picture of where things are happening.
“And while we might not always be able to investigate or to actually solve that, it means we can probably use that pattern to prevent future crimes and incidents by making sure that we can get our people in the right place when it’s happening.”
As well as the 999 emergency and 101 non-emergency lines, crimes can be reported online via www.sussex.police.uk/reportcrime
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