Somewhere in Mumbai, a girl and a friend of hers were travelling in a auto-rickshaw when all of a sudden, a biker flashed his private parts to them. Though the distressed girl was apprehensive of filing a complaint, her friend decided to tweet this episode to notify the city police through its official handle. Soon, the cops took notice of the tweet and decided to act on the incident. On examining the CCTV footage, they were able to nab the accused
Many other such incidents have been reported in the city police's official Twitter handle - @mumbaipolice - and thanks to the timely work of Sunchika Pandey (aka Twitter Madam) and her team, the police department has been able to carve a niche for itself worldwide since the page's initiation in December 2015.
"With changing times, police understand that they have to use as many mediums as they can and build a network and maintain it. But today five years down the line, many police departments, who use social media, will credit the Mumbai Police's page as its inspiration," says Pandey, who runs HAT Media, a marketing agency that manages the social media accounts of various government bodies in Maharashtra.
Born in Ranchi, Pandey began her career initially as a journalist in 2004 and worked for various news media outlets in Mumbai before shifting to the talk show Satyamev Jayate.
"Despite it just being a small stint, the show's cause enticed me to change my role from mainstream media. It was also during that time that I got acquainted with social media tools and I learnt how many people were getting driven to it," says Sunchika, who started working for the outsourced agency of the show's social media team as project manager.
It was during this stint also she happened to notice the Twitter page of Bengaluru Police. "The information flow was only one-sided in the Bengaluru Police," she says. "Then, I thought of starting such an initiative for the Mumbai Police considering that I have worked closely with them and my love for the city and its security," she recalls.
However, setting up such a platform was somewhat challenging. "When I brought the idea to a senior officer, he welcomed her idea. However, the department had doubts on whether they were ready. There was scepticism on how such a medium would work for government agencies," she says.
"Also, as a public service office, they were doubtful of handling not only the amount of emergency alerts that would be sent by the public but the criticism that would come even for a small error," she comments.
However, she was clear with her idea of an "online control room". "Twitter is the best platform to have short real time conversations and Mumbai is expected to have many users for the same," she remarks.
"We decided that we had to prepare thoroughly to face emergency messages as anybody would first inform the police no matter whatever be the distress. It would also enlighten masses on what the police's duty is and what is handled by other departments. It wasn't started abruptly but took time after adequate preparation and technical training," she adds.
Although she did approach police officers on her own, her colleagues (from the social media agency) gave her all sorts of help. "Even though I had moved out from there, they helped me in presentations and managing the necessary formalities as they were very much impressed by the idea," she says adding that she didn't take any remuneration for the first three months.
"A friend of mine, who wanted to start something of his own, decided to join me in my venture and thus we founded HAT Media together. Initially we had an all-girls team for the first two years and we used to communicate by using phones most of the times," she said, adding that her experience as a scribe helped her in multi-tasking.
The team had launched the Instagram page for the same purpose last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Since Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city (with Bollywood at one place and financial markets at other), I think the attention has been more on cops," she said.
Sunchika recalls the most tiring but exciting moment of her job during the 2017 Mumbai floods. "Our social media team had been very active that time receiving complaints from various parts of the city till 4-5 am. Our team was very elated at one such instance where we were able to save a woman with her child and it all happened due to the required coordination with people on field," she says.
CLICKING THE COPS
As a young boy, when Pravin Talan first became fascinated by a soldier in the 1980s, little did he know that many armed forces such as NSG, CISF, BSF and various police departments would approach him to bring out the candid part of their lives via calendars and coffee table books.
"I don't want to be stereotyped as a police or armed forces' official photographer though. I just do it as my passion for photography as a whole," says Pravin who started his career in fashion photography after venturing into modelling and journalism also.
"During my initial days in FTV, one of my Israeli colleagues showed me photos of international armed forces such as US Navy Seals and Israeli forces. It then flashed in my mind that why not do something for those in India as such photos can act as a great image booster for our armed forces," he asks.
During childhood, Pravin got his first camera after he won a prize in a photography competition. "It was then that I realised my love for the lens," says Pravin, who was gifted an advanced camera later by his father.
"I was in Class V when one of my teachers gave me a magazine called 'Commando' which had stories of bravery and I read every edition till Class X," Pravin says adding that he was in awe of seeing troops at the army parade ground near his house.
During his early years as an adult, Pravin also wrote for a local newspaper, which has ceased circulation before venturing into modelling. "Unfortunately, an accident ended my modelling career due to injuries in my face," he recalls.
But what makes Pravin eminent is his work for the Mumbai Police calendar every year and that is also done without any fees. "I think the biggest prize and self-satisfaction I can get is the recognition given by senior officers and ministers," he said adding that the special access he gets to take his camera at sensitive areas is also another responsibility more than a perk.
Pravin believes it was his own enthusiasm to do something for the city police department that he started it. "My stint with the calendar in 2016 started when I approached the-then Joint Commissioner Deven Bharti via reference of one of my friends. After I shot many pictures, the question was on the scale of bringing out the calendar and it was decided that it would be launched by the chief minister on the annual police festival – Umang," he says.
Pravin was very glad when the entire force was impressed by the pictures and never expected to go for another round of the assignment. "It started off as a small tribute to the forces and I never expected that Bharti sir would call me exactly a year later asking me to shoot for a new calendar," he remarks.
This year's calendar focuses on the pandemic and the lockdown-induced last year with shots ranging to the city police chief patrolling the seats. However, Pravin believes that the city police was already famous even before he started bringing them to his lens.
However, confidentiality is a must during clicking these photos. "I don't shoot normal forces who come out every day. The photos are used to motivate those who will view it. If general public see it themselves during shooting, what is the use of clicking it. The same is experienced by filmmakers," he comments.
However, one might wonder on why he only sees the positive part of the forces. "I had once shot a dead deer and when I showed it to my mother, she scolded me for 'bringing negativity through my camera' and said that if I bring out only positive things, then only can I attract more viewers for my photos," he says.
Apart from his work for the calendar, Pravin's stint for Maharashtra police began with him directing a short film 'Say No to Corruption' in 2005 starring Pankaj Tripathi for the state anti-corruption bureau. However, the music video 'Rakh Tu Hausla', which was written and directed by him, saw appreciation from all corners.
Pravin is excited for a web series on 'special forces' which he plans to direct. "My team is done with the research and it is now in the scripting stage. It is going to be an eye-opener," says Pravin.