WILTSHIRE Police has said it won’t tolerate any online abuse, after coming under fire for making a spelling mistake on social media.

Last Monday night, after Wiltshire Police appeared on Channel 4’s 999: What’s Your Emergency?, the force tweeted: “You can’t hide from us if your [sic] spewing abuse from behind a computer screen. Our boys & gals in blue will find you.”

Twitter users were quick to pick up on the error, with many joking about the force’s grammar. User @i_am_cjsoco said: “You really should coordinate with the Grammar Police”, and @mandyBanter wrote: “@wiltshirepolice have offended the rules of spelling and grammar. Who should I report this to? Is it a #999emergency?”.

In response Wiltshire Police released a statement saying: “We will not tolerate any form of abuse or discriminatory remarks made on any of our social media platforms. We are reviewing the posts and will consider any potential criminal offences which might have been committed.”

But other users accused Wiltshire Police of “policing the internet” rather than targeting real hate crime, with @Smur_OK tweeting: “Welcome to Wiltshire Police emergency helpline. All our officers are busy monitoring Twitter at present.”

Assistant Chief Constable Kier Pritchard responded to some commenters, tweeting: “Not my post but if people use the internet or social media sites to stalk, harass or abuse people then of course we’ll investigate and charge.”

999: What’s Your Emergency? aired last Monday night and focused on hate crimes and racially-aggravated assaults in Wiltshire and Swindon, and more than a million people watched.

In response, Chief Constable Mike Veale said: “The programme, which I know has instigated a vast amount of conversation on social media, was an opportunity for us to show how hate crime can take many different forms and that whatever it may be, we will take these reports seriously.”

Newly released figures show that the force received 530 reports of hate crimes last year.