Campaigners trying to save the police dog units from cuts will hold a Tweetathon tonight.

The event begins at 7.30pm using the hashtag DontDitchTheDogs and an account using the same name has already been sending out tweets, such as "cutting police dog numbers, are they barking mad?"

The account, which began tweeting on Friday has already gathered more than 1,300 followers and has sent out 375 tweets.

Earlier this month Essex Police announced plans to cut its unit from 52 to 40 dogs and have them all based at Sandon. 

The force has promised no dogs will be put down as a result.