Public service notices can be a blind spot, especially on social media where attention spans are just nanoseconds. But the Bengaluru police want to stand out in the online crowd.
Instead of an old-fashioned lecture on why passwords should never be shared, their social media pages have a bright yellow poster with a picture of a toothbrush and the caption: “Treat your passwords like your toothbrush. Do not share.” The Bengaluru police are driving home the point and innovatively so.
Witty, colourful message boards are becoming a common feature on the social media pages of the city’s police, and they have scored with netizens. The men in khaki are not just increasing their engagement with the public, but are also adding a little fun to lessons in law and safety. The traffic police, for instance, came up with a ‘Road accidents score board’ to urge people to use skywalks and zebra crossings. It said: “Fall of wickets: Last year: 42, Last 2 months: 15, mostly pedestrians.”
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Officials in the Command Centre said the social media cell of the police was trying to reach out to more people. “We do it all by ourselves,” the official said, adding that some suggestions also come in from the public.
Though there are no set targets, the police time the messages to suit the context. For instance, the picture of a bottle made up of mangled cars for a “don’t drink and drive” message will appear on weekends, to coincide with revelry. The videos and pictures on the official pages are getting ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ generously.