999: What's Your Emergency | Preview (Channel 4)

This episode, filmed with South Yorkshire Police, examines what happens when officers respond to calls for help from victims of bullying - from playground brawls to coercive domestic abuse.

Across the UK, bullying in schools is on the rise with a quarter of young people admitting to having been victimised. Ethnicity is the most common reason for bullying in children. It's 3.30 pm on a weekday, school's out, and PCs Pete Butler and Chris Shepherd are despatched after a report of a 14-year-old boy being injured by a gang in the street and being hospitalised with a suspected head injury.

On the outskirts of Rotherham, police respond to a Sunday evening call from a single vulnerable woman being systematically targeted by local teens in her own home, where bullying has the potential to escalate to harassment and criminal damage.

In 2020, government statistics showed that young people with disabilities are twice as likely to experience bullying. Police receive a call from a distraught mother watching her 27-year-old son attempting suicide after being bullied at work. In a recent survey, a quarter of employees reported being bullied in the workplace, but for some home isn't a sanctuary either.

In 2019 South Yorkshire Police received 34,000 calls from adults in abusive relationships. It's 7pm on a Saturday night in Rotherham and PC Ryan Everitt is despatched after a report of a fight in the street, which has left a woman distraught, terrified and injured by her ex-partner, who has breached restraint orders to visit her home. Police give chase to the knife-wielding suspect who is still at large nearby.

999: What's Your Emergency returns Monday 24th April at 9pm on Channel 4.