HOUSTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Police departments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean tweeted out requests for residents to refrain from using emergency numbers to report Facebook outages.

The Houston Police Department tweeted this week after a pair of recent Facebook outages that police are unable to help with problems stemming from the social network being down.


"Folks please do not call the police because #facebookdown we are as upset as you are but we cannot fix facebook. #sorry #wetried #techpolice," the tweet read.

Meanwhile, England's Kingston Police tweeted a similar request to residents.

"Yes we can confirm Facebook is down, please don't call us! What a great opportunity to spend some time with your family... #FacebookDown" the department tweeted during Monday's outage.

Police in Queensland, Australia, were more sympathetic to frustrated Facebook users and actually invited them to call -- but not for the reasons one would assume.

"Someone call us right now and describe in detail what you're having for breakfast coz Facebook is down and we just cannot deal! #nofacey" the Queensland Police Service Media Unit tweeted.