Barnsley police in 12-hour 'Twitterthon'

Police in Barnsley are using the social networking site Twitter in an effort to demonstrate how they operate.

They started tweeting at 07:00 BST on Saturday for 12 hours, releasing details about calls they have received and incidents they have responded to.

Ch Supt Andy Brooke said it was an opportunity "to give people a really good insight" into their work.

The South Yorkshire Police exercise follows Greater Manchester Police's 24-hour updates in October last year.

Barnsley Police, which is the first part of the South Yorkshire force to use Twitter in this way, are tweeting from @SYPBarnsley using the hash tag #barnsley12.

'More open'

"We want people to have an insight into the calls that come in, what we respond to, what's happening in the cell area and what's happening in the policing of the football match that's taking place," said Ch Supt Brooke.

The online updates coincide with Barnsley's home game against Leicester City.

Ch Supt Brooke said he wanted the force to be "bold" on Saturday.

"I want people to understand the role we have.

"Officers will give views and opinions on certain things. I accept there are risks and we are prepared to talk much more openly then sometimes we have done."

The force said it would be "inviting feedback" on the updates and assessing whether it was something it would do again in the future.