The next time you spot an offence, become a police informer. Contact the beat constable directly and you don’t have to wait for someone in the jurisdictional police station to do it. What’s more? You can simple text the police on mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

In an effort to improve the intelligence network, which would, in turn, help improve the law and order situation area-wise, the city police are turning smartphone-wise.

Additional Commissioner of Police (West Division) Alok Kumar said to begin with, around 50 persons in West Division will be included in a WhatsApp group monitored by the jurisdictional inspector.

The inspector will be the group administrator. Simply put, the group members will act as the eyes and ears of the police and tip them off on any untoward incidents.

How it works

Each police station has been divided into seven to eight beats and each beat will have 50 members, apart from the beat constable. The members will be selected by the police after verifying their background, Mr. Kumar said.

These group members will be in regular touch with the beat constable and can either pass on information or message to the police group administrator for further action.

This is aimed at improving not just the police-public relationship, but also the law and order situation in the respective jurisdiction.

As part of the new system, we will initiate this in four police stations, Mr. Kumar said.

In addition, the city police also plan to install IP-based CCTV cameras at strategic locations. These cameras will be easy to maintain, will use a wireless network, and will have the ability to operate without power supply.