UP Police has launched Twitter Seva, allowing people to reach the police through social media.
When in trouble - tweet the cops. As part of an aggressive image makeover, the Uttar Pradesh police have launched what they call the Twitter Seva along with 122 handles on the social media platform that people can use to reach them.
The 122 handles are for the 75 districts, senior police officials and other officials. They will be monitored with special software provided by Twitter.
With only months to go before assembly elections in the country's most populous state, UP's 44-year-old Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of the Samjawadi Party has initiated reforms in the area that his government has faced most criticism - law and order and police response.
Last week, the state's police chief Javeed Ahmed had a taser gun tested on him before the "stun gun," a "less lethal" weapon, is inducted into the force.
The Twitter Seva, aimed at "live customer services resolution" in a state of 20 crore, is the biggest engagement on Twitter anywhere in the world, said Mr Ahmed, Director General of Police, UP.
Citizens can simply tweet an SOS, complaint or query to the UP Police and their requests will handled in real time, promised the police chief, whose force has been criticised for not responding adequately to distress calls on phone.
The service, he said, would soon be integrated with another project called "Dial-100" - an emergency response management system.
"Every police personnel now onwards is expected to be much more conscious of his or her responsibilities. Every complaint and response will be under watch real time. The move is a big step forward for the state where the police so far had just only a Twitter handle which was activated a few months ago," Mr Ahmed told NDTV.
Critics say many poor people of the state who do not have access to internet will be left out of the quick response scheme and the slow response to the UP Police's Twitter account is an indicator. In the months since it was set up, the UP Police handle on Twitter has only 47,600 followers.
The state government's counter is that those who do not have access to Internet will soon be able to use the dial 100 facilities which once integrated to the Twitter Seva will get the same kind of monitoring.
A senior police officer however pleaded for a chance, saying this is a beginning to bring a change.