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Law and order concerns every citizen of a country. The right information at
the right time to the people can make a big difference. But unfortunately, even
the word police, which forms an essential part of the law and order system of
the country, creates an unhealthy picture where people are fearful of the police
force. While the web is a great way for the police administration to connect
with the people virtually, it can also help bridge the information gap that
currently exists. This assumes more significance in light of the current law and
order scenario in the country and increased terrorist strikes. Citizens need to
be sensitized with more information about how to deal with the situation. And in
this backdrop, websites can become an important tool. The New York Police
Department website (www.nyc.gov/nypd) is a perfect example of how a police
website should be.
There is no better way to provide basic information about policing than
through a website. While some metros and states police have been at the
forefront in terms of creating good websites, most of the states and their
capital cities are without any web presence. What that means is people get
information about their police force and its activities through the media,
either print or electronic. While some police websites like that of Kolkata
police (known at one time as the Scotland Yard of the East) have been
unbelievably up to date, others have just created a web front without really
bothering to update. It is a surprise that Gujarat lacks a virtual police
presence.
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| The Goa Police
website has very little useful information |
J&K Polices
website has its police theme video link hosted on you Tube |
Karnataka State
Police: Site 2 There is confusion and duplication |
Best and Worst
A few district police departments of Karnataka have created their websites
on blog sites like Blogspot.com which, though is appreciable, indicates the lack
of dedicated effort to create a website utilizing its own resources. Udupi,
Tumkur, Koppal, Kolar, Gulbarga, Dakshina Kannada, and Bidar have their sites on
Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com. The Assam police website provides very
comprehensive information about police of every district of Assam, their contact
details and email IDs of the superintendent of police. But the presence of two
websites is confusing.
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Kolkata Polices website is very professionally done and provides plenty of
updated information to the people
Karnataka Police: Site 1 |
The website of Bihar police provides updated crime statistics, mobile numbers
of senior officers, including DGP, and traces policing in Bihar to more than
3,000 years with documented historical references to policing practices adopted
by the Magadh Empire.
Andhra Pradesh police website (http://www.apstatepolice.org) even has a link,
Be a cop, which provides basic information on how to become a cop. It also
provides vital information about surviving a riot. However, the data and
statistics are outdated. The Haryana police website has an Online Complaint
Monitoring System, and the J&K police website is contemporary with their theme
song, hosted on Youtube.com, on the homepage.
Gujarat is the biggest disappointment considering that Vibrant Gujarat is
its underlying theme. The latest press release on the Delhi police website dates
back to August 2008 for traffic arrangements for Independence Day. Also, the
latest accident dates back to 2004. The Goa police website has almost no content
except for the DGPs message.
Way Forward
As Internet users in India grow it becomes even more important to provide
adequate information to the citizens without them having to come to police
stations for it. The Ministry of Home, Government of India should issue a
directive to the state governments to direct its police to organize and present
maximum possible information to the people. Websites should be made interactive
so that citizens can interact and communicate with senior officials in real
time. A few police administrations have been using SMS for informing its
citizens. It should be adopted by all the state police as the number of mobile
users in India is more than 300 mn and around 10 mn users are getting added
every month.
Another hurdle in reaching a wider number of people through these websites is
the language barrier. Most police websites are in English. There is a need to
provide information in local languages for better outcome. Also, for most
websites there are no standard formats for URLs. Some states have gone with .nic
while others have gone for formats like .com, .org, or .gov.in.
Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in
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