Avon and Somerset police examine public contact over 24 hours

Avon and Somerset police are scrutinising every phone call, email, tweet and letter which came into the force over a 24-hour period.

The aim is to get a "true sense" of what the public want from the force and then implement their findings by next April, a senior officer said.

A team of 20 officers is going through the results of the exercise which started at 07:00 BST on Friday.

Police said they took about 5,000 999 and 101 calls during Operation Check.

Chief Supt Sarah Crew said: "We wanted to get a true sense of the public's true demand on the constabulary over a 24-hour period - a really comprehensive picture of what the public want from us."

She said they were looking at all forms of communication from the public including people who came in person to front offices and also those who contacted the complaints department.

She added: "Next April is a key time for us because we open some new police stations that are being built at the moment.

"When we open those police stations we want to make sure that the way we're organised supports us in achieving what the public wants."