Giving the cops a tweet makeover

Three youngsters are giving the Mumbai Police’s Twitter account a fun — and much appreciated — twist

“If you roll, we will weed you out”, “Have you meth us ” or how about this winner — “Posting creepy comments on her photos will get you a long date with us ” These may sound like the catchy punch lines that an advertising agency might come up with, but what makes these slogans special is that they are part of the Mumbai Police’s campaign on Twitter to combat problems like drug use and cyber crime. And helping commissioner of police Ahmad Javed to come up with these attention-grabbing lines is a trio of youngsters — Amyn Ghadiali (27), Sunchika Pandey (33) and Ritwick Maindargi (25). Ever since their tweets for the cops’ anti-drugs campaign #HoshMeinAao were posted from January 26 onwards, they’ve been met with a lot of appreciation on social media.

“We knew it wouldn’t be an easy account to handle,” says Sunchika, who worked as a crime reporter and was familiar with the cops in that capacity before she switched to digital campaigns. The team brainstorms with Javed...joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti, deputy commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni and assistant inspector Ashwini Koli, to come up with their catchy tweets.

Amyn, who previously worked in PR and was pursuing his MBA degree for a while before taking on his current role as head of strategy and social media at Trivone Digital, says that the team researched various aspects of the campaign for over six months, before activating the cops’ Twitter handle. Of major importance, he says, was finding out “the sentiments of Twitter users regarding the Mumbai Police”.

Armed with their data, Sunchika, Amyn and Ritwick began their discussions with Javed, Bharti, Kulkarni and Koli — sessions that proved very fruitful. “The brainstorming sessions with the CP (Javed) have been amazing,” Ritwick says. “He comes up with the most quirky and excellent lines. We meet him everyday and our discussions are themed on weekly topics that we need to address, like eve teasing, women’s safety, drugs etc. Recently, there were rumours about a terror scare in the city and we immediately put out a tweet saying they weren’t to be believed.” He admits that there was some nervousness initially, in working with the city’s top cops, but that they share a very warm and comfortable equation now.

Amyn says that while the trio was not given a specific brief, there were certain ground rules — “No complaint should go unanswered, they have to be replied to” says Amyn, of one of the “non-negotiables”. “We often get tweets that are by no means related to Mumbai Police but fall under the RTO or BMC. During times like these, we redirect the people towards the right source for redressal.”

The task of course, is to keep citizens “engaged, and informed”, adds Sunchika. “We get about 30 notifications in 10 to 15 seconds during peak hours and handling such traffic becomes very difficult. We have a team of four people from the Web Development Centre of the Mumbai Police who work constantly in three shifts 24x7 to monitor the account.”

Twitterati’s verdict...

Nishtha Kanal, Professor The new Mumbai Police Twitter CP account is a rather smart move on the force’s part. The Mumbai Police account had been around for a while but most people only looked for it if there was a dire situation and they needed to contact the police. I’ve myself resorted to complaining to them on Twitter but that was it. The fun tone to the CP account puts a face to the police force, makes it more human. Besides we’re the Horn OK Please type of junta that loves slogans and they’re doing a swell job incorporating those. They’re actually making drug warnings fun! While they’ve only just begun, I’m hoping they’ll be at par with some of the fun police Twitter accounts from abroad.

Runcil Rebello, Content Writer I think it’s a good effort by the Mumbai Police; the best way to get information across about tricky issues is through humour. It’s also a breath of fresh air to see an authority figures/ organisations use humour to get their point across. Quite a few of the responses I’ve seen are ridiculing the tweets by the Mumbai police, but then that is par for the course with Twitter. I have also seen people appreciate the tweets. Ultimately I feel that it will work out well for the police, making them seem more approachable. They recently had an online chat with the Commissioner of Police (CP) called the #ChatWithCP; such initiatives should be held often.

Nikhil Wad, Digital marketing professional I have been reading the tweets of Mumbai Police, they’re witty and to the point, in a language that the youth understands. I feel they are succeeding in their agenda of reaching out to the youth. They started off with a bang but now the concern is, will they be able to sustain the flow I am sure the content team behind the handle must be working on the same. Another good aspect is that the handle is active in terms of responding to the mentions. This campaign strategy can certainly help in connecting with the youth and the masses.

Hardik Rajgor, IT Auditor I think it is really fantastic of a public service agency to connect with the citizens, especially on a social medium like the Internet. We’ve already seen Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister make really good use of Twitter to reach out and help citizens in distress. The account is far better than the traditional dry messaging that we have come to expect from Government and Public agencies. I love reading their tweets, laced with humour and some pretty sharp puns. It’s what works brilliantly on Twitter and it’s great to see them adapting with the time and the medium. I hope this campaign makes the police approachable. The perception of the police among the average person may not be the greatest. Over recent times, we have seen and read about certain incidents of moral policing from the Mumbai Police. I would love if the police were to make their position on it clear.