Ever since 1992-batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, Mr. Amitabh Gupta, took over the reins of Pune City Police as Commissioner, the department has seen a spurt of activities in its cyber space, with heightened awareness campaigns against crimes on its social media handles and the launch of public security apps that reach help to people in distress swiftly.
One such app is the ‘My Safe Pune’ app that was launched to enhance beat patrolling as well as for ensuring quick response to crimes. A beat marshal who arrives first at a crime scene clicks his selfie on the spot and uploads it on the app, following which the police control room immediately gets the exact location and rushes more police personnel to his aid.
Indian Masterminds spoke to Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta to know more about this app and other initiatives taken up by him to ensure safety and security of the people of Pune City.
My SAFE PUNE APP
While young people’s obsession with selfies is often a cause of concern in parents and guardians of law alike, especially when it inadvertently leads to accidents, sometimes fatal, Pune City Police found a way to make good use of this ‘selfie trend’.
In keeping with the times, Pune City Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta decided to use ‘selfies’ to ensure police teams reach the exact location of a crime scene fast, by launching the ‘My Safe Pune’ app.
The app, which is being implemented very successfully across the city, helps a beat marshal on patrol to immediately get more police personnel to come to his aid if he comes across a crime. All he has to do is upload one selfie from the crime scene on the app and instantly the police control room gets his exact location and sends more personnel to the spot.
Commissioner Gupta told Indian Masterminds that the app is a comprehensive system with a robust back end and not just another app. It is a first-of-its-kind mass data reporting project that uses an ‘uber’ like map-based interface and thousands of geo-tagged photos daily reported by beat marshals for ground surveillance.
“The project has turned out to the most widely used analytics project used by Pune Police by the sheer volume of data that comes into the system. Around 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh images are being reported in the system every month. The aim of the project is to ensure ‘Deep, Wide and Consistent Police Presence’ across time slots in Pune city. We analyse collected data for Lull Time Analysis, Accountability Matrix Building, Spot History Analysis, Incident Case Studies among many other things.”
Ever since the app was launched, 176 women and girls from across the city have used it to report over 100 unsafe spots by sharing screenshots. In response, the police intensified patrolling in those areas. The app also keeps track of the arrival of the beat marshals on those spots, the time, the number of rounds made, and shares the data with the police stations.
ENGAGING CITIZENS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Mr. Gupta further said that as social media, especially Twitter, has evolved to be a chosen medium for business, news, marketing and more importantly, for government organizations, to not only communicate but also actively engage with the citizens, he has laid special focus on it.
“Pune is home to one of the most informed and active netizens in the country which leads us to believe if we are to truly reach citizens, we cannot ignore this medium. The three words that can be used to describe our social media presence are: Relevant, Interactive and Viral!”
Outlining Pune Police’s citizen engagement strategy, he said besides awareness campaigns, social media is used for engaging the citizen one-on-one meaningfully, using a small in-house social media team.
“Our tweets were consumed a record 2 crore+ times by citizens last year in 2021. From Covid rule sensitization campaign using puzzles and tongue-in-cheek videos to the viral cyber awareness campaign based on a Bollywood movie theme, and from the comprehensive ‘FIR Process’ campaign to ‘Know the live patrolling status’ live data-based campaign, we ensured we kept our content relevant and in line with what citizens expect from a city police social media handle.”
CRACKDOWN ON ORGANISED CRIME GANGS
Besides the cyber world, Mr. Gupta has been very active in the real world, too, coming down heavily on organised crime gangs, with gangsters and hawala operators bearing the brunt of this drive.
“There has been 67 MCOCA cases against more than 350 gangsters in the last 15 months. This has finished the ‘Bhaigiri’ from the Pune City area. Systematically, plans were drawn to ensure gangsters do not have any advantage. We also registered many cases against hawala operators to stop all illegal funding of illegal activities.”
NEW INITIATIVE IN THE PIPELINE
In conclusion, Mr. Gupta revealed to Indian Masterminds that he plans to start a new app specifically for the welfare of his staff, which will be named, Samadhan App.
“Samadhan App is for my staff, where they can lodge their complaints and those complaints will be disposed daily. Timely payment of all their dues and ensuring Covid-affected staff are taken care of in all sense, are also my priorities.”
