Victoria police live-tweet night calls in #YYJ

Heading into Halloween weekend, Victoria police gave the public a peek into what their jobs look like on one of the busier nights of the year, by using live-tweets to create a virtual ride-along.

A tweet with the hashtag #VicPDLive went out around 5 p.m. Friday with an invitation to join them for a night as they worked to keep Victoria and Esquimalt safe.

The flurry of tweets describing calls and responses, launched with one saying that last year during the weekend before Halloween, police responded to over 400 calls. This year they were already at 109 calls by 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Calls are already coming in. We're headed to our first one of the night - an alleged mischief at a downtown business. #VicPDLive #yyj

— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) October 27, 2018

VicPD had multiple calls from downtown businesses throughout the evening, for reasons ranging from a man banging on the windows of a restaurant yelling that someone was trying to shoot him, to a shoplifter who reportedly pulled out a needle when confronted by a loss prevention office, to an irate customer who “didn’t like being looked at” by staff, throwing a drink on the floor before leaving.

Patrol officers are responding to a report of a woman sitting in the middle of the road on a very busy street. #VicPDLive #yyjtraffic

— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) October 27, 2018

Patrol officers are responding to a report of a woman laying in a crosswalk on a busy downtown street. Not clear if related to our earlier call. #VicPDLive

— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) October 27, 2018

A common theme throughout the night was impaired drivers – a total of 13, two for drugs and the remainder for alcohol. Some were called in, some were stopped in roadblocks, and one was caught after u-tuning to avoid a roadblock.

We stopped to help out at a road block looking for impaired drivers. Someone decided to u-turn to avoid the roadblock. Guess who failed a roadside screening? #VicPDLive pic.twitter.com/fwAeNOIOMS

— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) October 27, 2018

A report of an assault with a weapon had police head to the 800-block of Douglas Street. One person went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police also responded to a fight in Esquimalt involving four men.

RELATED: VicPD’s new-age crime fighting

RELATED: Halloween parties add to busy night for Victoria police

Two calls spurred police to share reminders with the public.

After responding to a report of fireworks in a parkade, VicPD reminded Victoria residents that unless you have a permit, fireworks are prohibited and can warrant hefty fines.

After a roadblock in which a driver passed the standard field sobriety test but had a container of joints beside them, police said that even though pot is now legal, marijuana cannot be sitting open, next to a driver, in a vehicle.

From the online engagement, Twitter users seem to appreciate the view into what VicPD faces in a night, with one saying they “had to pause the TV to read all the @vicpdcanada tweets. Enthralled by the #VicPDlive.”

VicPD are live-tweeting again Saturday night, follow along at @vicpdcanada.