‘Pune police uses social media to interact with people, address problems & educate them’

Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta has said that though the city of Pune with more than 1000 square km area is bigger than Mumbai, it currently has a police force of around 8,000 policemen. Mumbai, he notes, has 48,000 policemen, six times the number of Pune.      

In a conversation with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now, during the webcast of Visionary Talk series organized by the public policy and governance analysis platform, Gupta said as compared to Mumbai, Pune does not have many VIPs and therefore VIP duties for policemen are less.

“Pune Police manages a larger area with less force than Mumbai. Criminal and street crimes are in control. As compared to police stations, police chowkies in Pune are very popular. Pune has a vibrant nightlife but our basic problem is traffic and noise pollution,” he said.

While speaking on cybercrime, Gupta said, “There were 90,000 applications in cyber police stations regarding cybercrime. It shows the magnitude of problems to be dealt with in the time to come. Most complaints will not be converted to FIR as they are related to OTP and other such issues.”

All police stations in Pune have a cyber cell with helplines, he added.

On financial crimes in Pune he said, like cybercrime, EOW too has been structured with SOPs. A manual has been put in place for setting in a system along with required trainings. He added that trainings were also given in advanced technology.

As an example, the Pune top cop also spoke about the multi-crore cryptocurrency case that took place in the city and said while it was difficult to trace, Pune police was able to link the source, and trace the movement of bitcoin among various people involved in the crime.

While responding to a question on how Pune police was creating secure IT infrastructure to deal with such crimes, he said Pune being an IT hub has many IT experts. “But the crux of the matter is that we are focusing on using simple technology that will be easily understood by the police force as well as the people.”

On using social media platforms for better policing, Gupta said normally they do not register complaints through social media but if a complaint on social media comes to their notice the Pune police has a complaint registration no. 112. He added that the Pune police uses social media to interact with people, address their problems and educate them.

While speaking on the challenges faced by Pune Police during Covid -19, Gupta said that pandemic hit police very badly as many died and almost 1000 policemen got infected. He said many criminals were in jails, but as jails had to be decongested to control the spread of infection, many criminals were let off on furlough or parole.

Next, he said that as jobs were lost and due to unemployment, there was a spurt in crime in the city. “A database was created and crime and criminals were controlled in a systematic manner. There are 86 cases under MCOC Act where 900 people belonging to different gangs have been arrested. In the last one and half year, 75 persons have been arrested under MPDA, 1981,” he said.

On being asked how the Pune police strikes a chord of trust with the people, Gupta emphasized open communication for increasing trust between the police and people through formal and informal social events and engagements like rallies and various committees, including Mohalla committees.    

Speaking on the adoption of best practices between the police and law enforcement agencies, he said best practices need to be shared with each other and if suitable, should be adopted. He cited the example of practices like women marshals and dedicated squads in the police force, and said if found suitable and meeting their needs such best practices are adopted taken forward and even upgraded.

On police modernization and if the PPP model can be implemented, he said the police has already initiated modernization and is also using technology that is now cheap and also requires fewer policemen.

“Normally police hierarchy is very reluctant to go for PPT model and can be brought in as per situation like the home guards and traffic wardens. Policemen are normally touchy about fixed assets like land etc, and as such do not like the PPT model,” he added.