Reports of suspicious man inaccurate, police say

Reports of a man acting suspiciously, which sparked a huge emergency response in Birmingham, were inaccurate, police have confirmed.

A large number of police officers and vehicles, including a helicopter, descended on the Erdington area of the city on Friday evening.

West Midlands Police said earlier that they were trying to locate a man who was reported to have been acting suspiciously, adding: "As always, our focus is on ensuring the safety of everyone."

Shortly before 22:00 BST, the force said it had made a number of inquiries and confirmed the report, while made "out of genuine concern", turned out to be inaccurate.

"We'll continue to have officers in the area, as we regularly do as part of our daily plans, but not the substantial resources which were there earlier," a spokesperson said.

"We would like to thank the public for their support this evening as well as our partner agencies."

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