Baroda cops show their witty side on social media

VADODARA: Millions of Indians recently became fan of a wink by internet sensation and Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier.
For Varrier's fans it was the moment of falling in love over that wink. But who would have thought that a wink can even become a lesson to make people follow traffic rules.

Taking a cue from that one wink, the Vadodara city police department recently made an illustrative post on its official social media account so that Barodians drive carefully and do not become victims to distraction.

On Saturday the post became viral on the social media and thousands of fans of the actress shared the photo on their profile.

The illustration is one of the many such posts which the police have made in association with city-based professionals. Traffic cops believe that these posts which have a humorous lingo altogether are made and shared to connect with new age citizens who are active on social media.

"There is one section of the audience which hardly comes in contact with the police. The format which we had been using so far was traditional and they would never come to know. We thought that there is a need to reinvent ourselves and engage with them using a language which will attract their eyeballs therefore we used popular themes," said police commissioner Manoj Sashidhar.

He added that through such posts the department is trying to pass two kinds of messages. "One is obviously an overt message that 'Traffic Ek Sanskaar', but the covert message is that police can also be witty, humorous, modern and follow social trends," he said.

Besides this one post which went viral on Saturday, the social media profile also has other tongue-in-cheek posts which appeal to citizen to not violate laws like prohibition, drug abuse, stalking women, domestic violence and cyber security among others.