‘Kuch Khaas Hai Itihaas’ Campaign: Delhi Police offers followers a history lesson, one tweet at a time

The first wireless set of the Delhi Police from 1944; (right) the police whistle made in Birmingham in 1926

Mysteries solved years ago are helping the Delhi Police make a splash on Twitter, with a tweet highlighting an interesting case, photo or trivia being posted on its handle every Thursday.

While the entire cycle — from the tweet being posted to it going viral — takes a few hours, a three-member research team spent around four months skimming through inspection books, faded FIR copies, logbooks and complaint copies written in Urdu to unearthed the nuggets of history, encased weekly in 140 characters — from how a cycle thief was caught to the first woman officer in the Delhi Police.

The campaign was conceived after police sought the help of an advertising company, Astral. The social media team eventually pitched the idea of unearthing history of Delhi Police to “get a better connect with the audience”. After a green light from senior officers, the ‘Kuch Khaas Hai Itihaas’ campaign was launched.

“The whole point was to make sure that interesting history of the Delhi Police is shared with the public,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma, who oversaw the authenticity of the research work.

A three-man research team started work in May and, after an initial briefing at the Delhi Police headquarters, visited Delhi Police Museum and the library — only to discover an intimidating array of books. Soon enough, they realised they needed a guide.

“We had got our hands on an in-house Delhi Police journal and found some beautiful poems by inspector Rajendra Singh Kalkal. He used to be the inspector research at Delhi Police Museum and guided us with our first stories, including the first FIR registered by Delhi Police,” said Vivek Singh, who supervises the team.

The team initially went through about “50 books and 60 magazines,” Ayushi Dwivedi, the field researcher, said, adding that claims in the books were corroborated with 15 DCPs. The findings were documented in three separate logs — one contained remarks by DCPs; the other, findings from the books; and the third, photographs of exhibits.

After initially skimming through FIR copies against Mahatma Gandhi and leaders of the freedom struggle, complaint copies, and inspector manuals, the team hit a brick wall as the flood of information led nowhere. Eventually, they managed to get their hands on the Delhi Police: History and Heritage, a coffee table book released in 2006, and now in limited edition. “We scanned 200 pages from the book. We now have around 60 stories that can last a year. Research work is still underway,” Vivek said.

While photographing exhibits at the museum, the team spotted a blue box with broken circuits and G&C inscribed at the top. “It was difficult for us to identify the instrument. Once we managed to clear dirt from the glass and read the description during our fourth visit to the museum, we found that it was, in fact, the first wireless system used by the police and not a radio,” Vivek said, adding that the image was then uploaded on Twitter.