Concerned over the threat to public safety by the increasing number of underage students riding bikes to high schools, Handralmahesh Anjanareddy, through his post on the city police’s Facebook page on Wednesday, urged the authorities to visit educational institutions and penalise the parents of erring students.
In reply to the post, the city police assured to conduct special drives against such minor drivers once the schools reopened.
Similiarly, on May 16, Syed Zabiulla tweeted saying, “@CPMysuru Sir, referring to your circular 2 house owners 2 give tenants details 2 jurisdictional PS. Could u pls let us know the deadline date.” In reply, the police tweeted back saying, “Dear Syed Zabiulla, the last date is before June 6. thank you.” The social media initiative by the city police, which has more than 11,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook and about 330 followers in less than a month on Twitter, has given citizens a direct channel of communication with the police.
City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said the open channel of communication on social media heightens the expectations of the citizens. “It will be very challenging in the initial days. There will be a lot of negativism also, which should be handled professionally. The officials handling it should be resolute and committed to public service. If certain issues cannot be addressed, it has to be convincingly explained,” he said.
Mr. Dayananda also described their social media initiative as a “double-edged sword”. If action is taken swiftly on complaints, there is a lot of credit for the police. But it can go against us and there will be disproportionate criticism if expectations are not met,” he said. However, he said the city police has deployed a small team, who are committed and trained in communication, to handle its social media platforms.
