The team also includes officials from a private firm and has on board police personnel aged below 35, who “actively analyse” social media trends, movies and pop culture. (Twitter/@DelhiPolice)From Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic dialogue, “Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum”, to Indian cricketer Deepti Sharma’s ‘mankading’ moment in a recent match versus England – pop culture is increasingly being used by the Delhi Police to amplify its messages and spread awareness about crime in the capital.
Behind these memes, particularly noticeable over the past few weeks, is a 10-member social media team led by inspectors and officers from the Special Branch. Inspector Ravikant, one of the officers leading the team, told The Indian Express, “We receive templates from the creative team and check them regularly. The memes or posts have to be funny, but not offensive or tough to understand. We want to reach a broader audience and help them understand us better.”
“We have some interns who are students of mass communication and journalism. They are young and vibrant and also chip in with excellent ideas,” an officer said.
One gem shared recently is a photo of Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra Deol in a tweet that reads: “Jai and Veeru were ahead of their times. It is time, you catch up to them and start Car Pooling.” Another is a gif from ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, where Amrish Puri tells Kajol “Ja Simran Ja”, but with a modern-day rider: “Par sandigdh gatividhi dikhe toh Delhi Police ko zaroor soochna dena (If you see any suspicious activity, inform Delhi Police).”
सावधानी ही सुरक्षा का सर्वोत्म उपाय है।
आने वाले त्योहारों में सावधान रहें, दिल्ली पुलिस की आंख और कान बनकर अपराधों पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए हमारी मदद करें।
किसी भी संदिग्ध गतिविधि को देखते ही डॉयल करें- 112/1090#DelhiPoliceCares pic.twitter.com/azSNdCSP3c
— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) October 2, 2022
The team also includes officials from a private firm and has on board police personnel aged below 35, who “actively analyse” social media trends, movies and pop culture. It works out of the Delhi Police Headquarters and is assigned other tasks too – conducting ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions with Cyber Police officers or DCPs; sharing videos of “good work”, and posting about traffic laws and updates.
Traffic laws and cyber crimes figure in many posts – officers explained that people often get cheated by unknown scamsters or get involved in road accidents. “We want to help people know the law, and social media is the best platform to do that. Our engagement is much better with the public now. People share our memes,” said an officer.
दिल्ली पुलिस की आंख और कान बनकर अपराधों पर अंकुश लगाने में हमारा सहयोग करें।
आप और हम मिलकर अपनी दिल्ली को रखेंगे सुरक्षित।
किसी भी संदिग्ध व्यक्ति या वस्तु के दिखने पर तत्काल 1090 (टॉल फ्री) पर कॉल कर पुलिस को सूचित करें।
— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) October 3, 2022
Apart from creating such content, Delhi Police officers said the team also handles their Twitter and other social media platforms 24×7, looks into grievances, and responds to online harassment and fake news. The team also uploads Instagram reels, and creates infographics about crime statistics, recovery of drugs/liquor and arrests/detentions.
Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa told The Indian Express, “There are many creative agencies on our panel. Depending on the awareness message, creative campaigns are created to reach out to people. Our effort is to have creatives that will go viral and generate interest in the public so that the message behind them is conveyed to a larger audience… In the past, many campaigns have been done, but we have observed that witty content has better reach among youngsters. Thus, we are adopting these means to create awareness about our various initiatives and to make people aware about safety issues.”
The Delhi Police has more than 8,38,000 followers on Twitter.