PUNE: Connecting with millennials and tech-savvy seniors alike, the twitter account of the Pune police received over two crore tweets from citizens last year.
The online connect also resulted in number of campaigns initiated by the department, based on suggestions from citizens through the social media.
Pune Police commissioner Amitabh Gupta has been instrumental in steering his department’s focus towards social media with an aim to making policing more citizen-friendly. He has appointed a small in-house team with a mission to- shed negative public perception and don a youthful, witty and approachable identity by interacting with citizens online through a variety of memes, motivational messages, on-the-job selfies, and so on.
“None of our posts is self-appreciative or promotional. All of them are informative, packaged in a fun and interactive way through memes, riddles, wordplay and tongue-in-cheek comments for self-criticism,” he said.
In an ‘Ask Me anything’ campaign on Instagram stories, Gupta disclosed his mobile number for citizens who want to get in touch with him directly. Since 2020, the Twitter handle of Pune Police has seen an increase of over 2.5 lakh followers. Its Instagram account has over 16,000 followers. Head constable Praveen Ghadge, a member of the Pune Police’s Twitter team, said, “Citizens have responded well to our initiatives, such as Know Your Police, awareness of patrolling spots, and a ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’-themed cyber awareness campaign.”
The current initiative of #MySafePune resulted in an addition of 98 patrolling spots, he said. However, not all are impressed. A working professional from Baner, said, “It is commendable how quickly the Pune Police responds online, but there is often a lot of delay when it comes to taking actual action.”
