Harmeet Singh, the face changer of Assam Police now Guwahati CP has one mantra for citizens- "service"
Additional DGP Harmeet Singh took charge of the Guwahati Commissionerate in July this year. As Additional DGP (Security, Adm, M&L and Border) Singh was instrumental in many initiatives of the Assam police from setting up new units and initiatives as well as modernization and technological upgradation of the state police force.
A 1992 batch officer, Singh is a well-known in the country for the unique initiatives he designed for the Assam Police Social Media outreach - Bohemian Facstody that fished out fake news, The Think Campaign, catchy tweets, including the one on drug seizure that went viral across the world.
1) What is your roadmap of law and order and policing in Guwahati?
We see policing in a simple way and that is ‘Service’. The primary goal as the Police Commissioner of Guwahati is that every citizen of Guwahati is served. Today, Service is is the most important aspect of policing anywhere in the world. The last man walking on the streets of Guwahati should feel safe, secure and walk around with confidence: without obstructive or intrusive policing. Our CM, Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, has laid out a clear path for the police to dedicate itself to the people of Assam and ensure Service.
2) You are one of the face changers of social media of Assam Police. Striking a chord with the younger generation, they have drawn inspiration from across the board to make it the best messages from any police force social media has ever seen. How did you come up with this?
We attempt to speak to the citizens in an idiom that is both interesting and easy to connect directly with them. We in the Assam Police are using social media, not only to inform or market the initiatives, but to ensure two-way communication. Each tweet or post or campaign is thought over on how it will connect with the populace. Invoking idols like Dr. Bhupen Hazarika or using the work or renowned artistes like Freddie Mercury is a way to connect with every generation. Music, movies, pop culture, memes and wit are what the police force is using to reach out to the young.
One of our tweets, “Has anyone lost a huge amount (590 kilograms) of Cannabis/Ganja. Don’t panic. We found it…” fetched us over 40 lakhs likes and 10,000 retweets. However, the numbers is not what we targeted but the reachability and connectivity with the citizens. We have featured many Bollywood/Hollywood stars, sports personalities, and popular movies like Gullyboy, Newton, Sacred Games and more.
This month, we started a campaign on ‘Sharenting’- a campaign to sensitise parents on the perils of sharing the photos, videos and sensitive details of their children on social media that lead to identity theft, future discrimination and violation of the privacy of the children.
3) Assam Police is the first state police unit to come up with a full-fledged programme to tackle fake news. Please tell us more about ‘Bohemian Factsody’, your brainchild?
I personally look into the creative part along with Salik Khan, a young and talented Creative Consultant, in developing our campaign ideas. We experiment. We learn. The design of ‘Bohemian Factsody’ based on the popular ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ a musical drama film on Freddie Mercury. We redesigned it to ‘Boehmian Factsody’ to give a message to the everyone who uses social media for news and entertainment that a ‘Fact check’ is essential, to reach the truth on every matter. On social media apps- What’s App, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and several others, news spreads in seconds without realising the impact of the same. The rise of the fake news has its repercussions. Two musicians in Assam- Abhijit Nath and Nilutpal Das were battered to death in Karbi on the suspicion of them being child lifters. There were messages forwarded on What’s App that warned people against ‘Sopadhora’ (child lifter). The fake news has worst consequences and with campaign we got into the heads of the youth to fact check. Hundreds of profiles in various social media platforms were scanned and police were able to apprehend many for spreading fake news
4) The Assam Police SMART social media centre, Nagrik Mitra was started by you. Please tell us more about it. Singh heads the Nagrik Mitra forum as the state level.
We started Nagrik Mitra as a platform to lend an ear to all. From personal grievances to providing all types of assistance to citizens and our four legged friends in the the recent pandemic, Nagrik Mitra heard each and every grievance and helped citizens. We started helplines to bolster the interaction through which all citizens from a senior citizen in need of medicine to women facing harassment, all are attended to, and solutions brought about for their problems.
5) You were instrumental in starting the ‘Think Campaign’ for cyber safety. The Assam Police won the social media for empowerment award for this. Could you tell us about the success of the campaign?
#TheThinkCampaign is one of our earliest and longest running initiatives. It’s an effort to make people think before jumping the gun. The campaign uses the idea behind the proverbial maxim “Think Before You Act”. The Internet and by extension, Social Media has evolved around the concept of Instant Communication/Messages, thereby, making a behavioural change in our responses. With #TheThinkCampaign, we highlighted the importance of thinking before we begin to act on the Internet.
Our campaign on women's safety began with an anti stalking graphic carrying the hashtag #ThinkBeforeYouStalk, which went viral and was endorsed by many Bollywood Celebs including Kajol and Ajay Devgn.
Similarly, #ThinkBeforeYouHit was a first of its kind campaign in the country against Mob Violence, which also went viral on SM. Another campaign in the Think Campaign series, #ThinkBeforeYouPost, received a wide range of acknowledgements, including Shri Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament. We also collaborated with UNICEF for the Think Campaign, highlighting the importance of Child & Women Safety, particularly in the Cyber Space with the #ThinkBeforeYouClick campaign. Our Campaign against Fake News - #ThinkBeforeYouShare, another segment of the Think Campaign received the prestigious DEF India Award for Community Mobilisation and was nominated as official India entry for the World Summit Awards, 2019.
6) Northeastern routes are often used by drug cartels to sneak in the contraband. What are your plans for drug trafficking in Guwahati?
As soon as the current Chief Minister of Assam took over May this year, he set forth the goal to make Assam drug free. In a 100 day period drugs worth more than Rs. 200 crores have been seized in the state. In Guwahati alone, 5.5 kilograms of heroin, worth in the international market for Rs. 38.5 crores was seized. 130 people have been arrested and 25 vehicles seized.
We are working on breaking down the nexuses that were operating from other parts, by tracing the forward and backward linkages. We have been able to operate in Meghalaya, Manipur and New Delhi, arresting and bringing back drug traffickers from these places. Few days ago, Guwahati police seized 2.5 kilograms of heroin from an oil tanker which was on the way to Shillong via Guwahati, just last week.
7) What are the initiates that you have planned for Guwahati Police?
We are running a drive to completely control the petty crimes and Street crimes in Guwahati. The officers have formed special teams that are looking into these cases. Citizens are mostly affected with crimes on street and our motto is to make Guwahati safe on streets. We are also clearing all verification processes of citizens from passports to other documents that are pending with police officers. Under the SMART City project for Guwahati, we have initiated 'Intelligent Traffic Management System' and redesigning parking spaces in the city to curb the traffic issues in the city. Guwahati is the first city in Assam that has initiated a pilot project for policemen to digitalize personal and financial records of the policemen so that the onn the day he retires, he has all the details on one button/click. We are using newest technology and softwares to modernize the city police in all aspects.
