Special DGP Assam Police Harmeet Singh on good and bad of social media and policing
Policing & Social Media: A Perspective
Harmeet Singh, IPS
The advent of the Printing Press in the 15th century ushered in an era of Information, changing the way the world communicated. It can perhaps be called, the second most important invention in the history of mankind after the wheel. But the arrival of Social Media transformed the world of information like never before, shaking up all existing norms and changing methodologies of communication beyond recognition.
With Social Media changing the way we communicate and the idiom, in which we do, it would be foolhardy of any organisation to ignore the medium. Social Media can not only serve as a valuable tool for communicating with the citizenry, but more importantly as a vehicle an enhanced Police-Public relationship. Apart from being a platform for positive engagement and delivery of citizen-centric services, the Social Media ecosystem on the converse can also pose a threat to public safety and law & order. This intersectionality of Social Media and Policing is not only enigmatic but also bewildering. For the first time, the medium is not only a source of credible evidence but also as a possible theatre of crime.
The police force in India uses the mainstream platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to interact with the citizens. The social media is a two process for them- both for communicating about their work to the citizens for better reachability and for the citizens to approach police instantly. The police departments in the metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune have had an impact on their respective citizens with their campaigns and social media activities. The Mumbai Police with their witty tweets had won hearts across the country inspiring their counterparts in Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and more. The Delhi Police is the latest force in upping their social media game with the witty tweets.
Wit and humours in tweets to send out a message to the citizens has given a huge impact on youth. The witty tweets of Mumbai Police became a rage and the youth began looking up for the tweets of Mumbai Police on traffic, anti-narcotic campaigns, CCTV cameras and more.
However, it’s not just the wit alone but the interactive approach of police that has been inspiring more and more citizens to connect with them directly. From reporting traffic offences to reporting violence or accidents, the citizens have been directly writing to the police to seek help or draw their attention as compared to the old school system of approaching the police stations in person or giving written complaints.
All important departments of police have official Twitter accounts that regularly update citizens on various investigations, campaigns, announcements and more. This, however has also led to many official police handles to give out message to not report crimes on Twitter or presume that crimes reported on Twitter would qualify for an actual police complaint.
The social media for police has also been a more educational platform especially in rural areas where they have been running campaigns on prevention of crimes against women and children, cybercrime and economic offences. The pandemic brought a rise in both cybercrimes and economic offences and citizens struggled to understand the difference between genuine platforms and conning websites. The social media was increasingly used to spread awareness and warn the citizens not to fall prey to hackers and fraudsters.
The social media played for police played a pivotal role during the pandemic to send help to distressed citizens, issuing travel passes, aiding citizens with accurate information on hospitals, doctors, oxygen cylinder suppliers, ration supply and more. Social media turned into a control room for many district police especially in lesser developed areas where citizens were gasping for oxygen and searching for hospital admission.
Many IPS officers took to social media and started a platform to aide Covid patients and their affected families. Hundreds of SOS calls were received on city and district police’s official handles and handles of IPS officers. In some cases, a platform started to aide citizens during the pandemic became a platform for social cause even after the lockdowns were lifted.
Social Media & Community Oriented Policing
The Father of Modern Policing, Sir Robert Peel, in his principles of policing, argued that “the power of the Police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior.” Social Media can transform the way Police interacts and engages with the citizens to develop trust, transparency, and open communications. Effective use of Social Media allows law enforcement agencies to develop trustworthy relationships and transparent communication with the community. It also ensures transparency in the department’s online reputation and makes sure that facts are brought forth in real time, so that emerging narratives are not skewed. From providing a forum for grievance redressal to countering fake rumors and humanizing the Police, Social Media is an important tool for community-oriented policing.
According to a study by Urban Institute, 94% of law enforcement agencies use Facebook, followed by Twitter at 71%. Unlike traditional unilateral communications, Social Media extends an opportunity for a two-way dialogue with citizens & provides assistance in the delivery of citizen-centric services. Over the years, we have seen how various Police departments across the country have started using Social Media for communication and day-to-day policing. Truth to be told, thanks to Social Media, the Police has begun dismantling stereotypes, which have been cemented by celluloid caricatures. In breaking that proverbial image, where real time communication has been a major factor, the use Memes has played a very important and key role. The use of an idiom that the young generation understands, from Mumbai, to UP, to Bengaluru and now Assam, the ‘Meme-fication’ of communications and awareness messages has transformed the police-public relationship. Memes are the language of the Internet and they make content delivery impactful. They break the shackles of old stereotypical images/perceptions and talk to the audience in their idioms. Since Memes are essentially a unit of cultural information, the ideas and references governing this ‘Meme-fication’ differ greatly among all cultures, but they reflect general social behaviourism. Assam’s geopolitical rumblings are unique too. The challenges and possible interpretations run deep.
Revamping its Social Media Presence in July 2018, the Assam Police created the Smart Social Media Centre, ‘Nagarik Mitra’ for a proactive and quick response mechanism developed. The purpose was not only to ensure the safety and security of the citizens in real-time but also to prevent vested interests from vitiating the peaceful environment in the State by attempting to create artificial faultlines.
While, it’s true that on the Internet, the distinction between communicator and audience is thin, but the spread of misinformation can be controlled by establishing oneself as a credible source of information. A lot of misinformation flourishes because of the absence of credible, trustworthy information. One of the most basic components of risk communication is being considered trustworthy by the citizens. Following a multi-pronged strategy, we not only disseminated authentic information regularly, we have also taken appropriate action, both legal and counselling, against individuals/entities spreading rumors and misinformation.
Assam Police’s active communication strategy of positive and multi-lingual engagement has allowed us to communicate effectively. One of our initiatives, #TheThinkCampaign won the Social Media for Empowerment Award by DEF India (in collaboration with Facebook and UNESCO) for Community Mobilization. The Think Campaign was also the official Indian entry to World Summit Awards 2019, Austria.
Social Media, for Assam Police, today has become a positive vehicle to reach out and help the citizens during adverse situations like the most recent Covid19 Pandemic and ensure public peace when vested interests tried to vitiate the security situation by spreading false narratives during on the NRC & CAA issues.
Pandemic & The Art Of Communication
Unlike previous pandemics, when communication mediums remained largely one way and could only reach a fixed audience, COVID-19 happened in the era of the Internet, where information travels with the speed of light. Like previous crisis situations, the Assam Police Social Media Communication strategies worked well in the interests of all concerned and allowed us to create an effective two-way communication channel, a medium of meaningful conversation.
Additionally, multilingual content creation strategy, Assam Police was able to put forth and augment Covid awareness campaigns with memes, modern-day idioms, humor, and pop culture references, which at the time had gone viral. Key messaging points like Social Distancing and wearing Face Masks, when pushed through the language of the Internet, create a stronger impact on the psyche of today’s smartphone generation. Apart from memes, another key component of our communications has been the awareness video songs, which we produced. Imbibing the cultural milieu in communications, from recreating the iconic ‘We are in the same boat brother’ by Bhupen Hazarika and ‘We Shall Overcome’ into songs of hope. Using in-house talent we collaborated with a large number of the local artistes, singers, and music composers to raise awareness on key Covid-19 directives. This was perhaps, one of its kind experiments in communications during this epidemic. Our targeted and multi-dimensional content creation has been a success story.
Social Media & Operational Efficiency
While Social Media has changed the way people commit crimes and spread false narrative to vitiate the situation or radicalise populations, it also provides new means to assist law enforcement agencies in achieving important policing objectives. It enables specifically targeted information to be shared publicly with a single click. Time-sensitive information, such as advisories and important alerts can now be delivered directly to the citizens in real-time. False narratives on social and security issues can be nipped in the bud and tackled immediately, before they affect the security situation adversely. Social Media can hugely be used in mitigating citizen concerns and providing them real-time assistance. A good example of this is when Assam Police was able to recover a hijacked vehicle within 57 Minutes.
Similarly, Social Media serves a key role in intelligence gathering and investigations. Law enforcement agencies can use publicly available information such as photos, videos, and other types of content to gather both information and evidence. Social Media can also aid in identifying suspects and/or victims of a crime. The Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) paradigm provides a new opportunity for law enforcement agencies to generate operational intelligence that could help in responding to public concerns and potential crimes.
Watching Social Media can make policing more proactive. It can help in identifying tell-tale signs of a potential situation before it escalates into a crime or a tragedy. While there are valid concerns about the privacy of citizens, we need to strike a fine balance between privacy and security. It’s a thin line to walk - with usual disclaimers. Besides, most Social Media Mining is done using publicly available information. Information that can be found in publicly available Facebook feeds or Twitter timelines. This is no different than what Brands call ‘Social Listening’, wherein, they track online mentions and sentiments around keywords and phrases. Monitoring of problematic trends or potentially harmful sentiments on Social Media can and are averting untoward situations.
Challenges & Way Ahead
For all the potential of Social Media in Policing, it has its own sets of challenges. The ever-growing cyberspace and its associated risks mandate a well-thought-out, comprehensive, and integrated Social Media strategy. The two-way communication paradigm of Social Media, which helps police departments to develop meaningful community relationships has rightfully led to greater accountability and transparency for the police. Today there is intense public scrutiny of the police on Social Media platforms. Thus, it is very important to ensure that the online persona of a law enforcement agencies remain objective and open to suggestion, while putting across a true and factual narrative that adds to its credibility.
With more than 560 million internet users, India is the second-largest online market in the world. Catering to such a humongous target audience has its own set of challenges. Social Media is a new medium through which people - police conversations are taking place like never before. In this new theatre of communication, Police departments need new doctrines and strategic maneuvers that are in accordance with the principles at the heart of the Indian Constitution. The Information age has bestowed powers that allow us to serve the citizens like never before. These powers also call for ensuring justice and a responsive model of policing.
To paraphrase Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility!
The author Harmeet Singh is DGP Assam Police, In-charge Assam Police smart Social Media Centre and cop author is Salik Khan, Creative Consultant for Assam Police
